Blood Moon
by Laura Picken
Summary: A Forever crossover in my original "Guardians of Shangri La" Castle Universe. When Henry and Jo are facing one of the toughest cases of their lives, they get help from some unexpected places. PRIMARILY A FOREVER STORY. Castle characters (especially the Guardians) will be mostly support, at least at the beginning. Heavily involves one of my major original characters (Katya).
1. Chapter 1

I...can't...stay...away...

I keep saying that I'm going to jump from fan fiction to original fiction. And I really, _really _want to. But every time I turn on the television, story ideas have been throwing themselves at me - *especially* since I falsely declared that "Age of Miracles" was going to be my last fanfic. Heck, I watched an episode of Hawaii Five-O with my husband the other day and I've been forcing myself to *not* write down the painfully obvious White Collar crossover that was being handed to me on a silver platter.

If I stifle the muse, I'm starting to become convinced that she'll take off and I'll stop being able to write anything. So I give up. I'm giving in to the muse and just going to let her run and be happy. Which will mean stories like this one.

STORY DISCLAIMER: This is not a typical crossover fanfic. For the Castle fans who are reading this, I hope you've already given "Forever" a shot. The baseline premise is a New York City Medical Examiner who's a 200 year-old immortal doctor. The origins of how he got his immortality are _terrible_ and the running subplot is destined to annoy the heck out of me, but the case writing is good and the show has a real Esplanie vibe to it. It even _looks_ like it's meant to be a Castle spin-off. Which leads us here...

Technically, this could be (and probably will be) considered a Forever/Castle crossover. In reality, it's a Forever/Guardians of Shangri La crossover. Which means, at it's best, this is going to be for a very tiny subsection of this audience...possibly only me. Yep, this is more Katya practice. :-) For those hardy souls who are surfing for crossover fanfic for a show in its first season, Katya is a character whose story I'm trying to channel into the aforementioned original novel. Saying too much more will spoil it for you. :-)

This is a deep dive into Katya's adventures in the modern world. If you want to read her previous stories, read my Guardian stories "Moonrise Kingdom" and "Many Happy Returns" (you can find them on my author page). For the Guardian die-hards...this story will be set just shortly after the events in Many Happy Returns: Fallon and Katya have just gotten back from their honeymoon, and Phil Coulson hasn't come anywhere near their lives yet...

TECHNICAL DISCLAIMER: I don't own the "Forever" characters (or the "Castle" characters if they should happen to get mentioned in passing.) Katya and her world, though, are mine. Please don't use them without my permission.

And now, let the adventure begin...

#

Nothing annoyed Detective Jo Martinez more than having to pass through a mob of reporters and photographers before ducking under the yellow tape of a crime scene. Fighting through the latest mob, in particular, robbed Jo of her opportunity to take in the full scope of the crime scene until she was past the tape...and realized that she was standing at the heavy wooden door of an old church. It was only then that Jo noticed that the officers around her looked far more shaken than the average cop looks at the average crime scene. _Crap, _thought Jo, _this is gonna be a bad one._

A plain-clothesed detective was waiting for Jo at the end of the closest back pew, and Jo latched on to the familiar face. "Lieutenant Reece," she greeted the other woman, "what do we have?"

"Scene's downstairs," Reece replied, choosing her words carefully.

Jo noticed Reece's hesitation. "That bad, huh?"

Reece suddenly seemed unable to look Jo in the eye. "You gotta see this one for yourself." She set the scene as she led Martinez down to the church's basement. "Sandy ate away at the church's foundations. Not enough to condemn the old girl, but y'know...anyway, the last rainstorm flooded the fellowship hall. First time ever. When the water receded the workers started complaining about a nasty smell. Somebody tracked down the source of the stink to a back wall, broke the wall down and found...this."

Jo was stopped in her tracks by the sight before her. "Jesus," she whispered under her breath. Composing herself quickly, she went from shock to focused anger in a heartbeat. "How many?"

"Twelve, at last count," replied Reece.

Jo looked around, counting the bodies for herself until an 'odd sock' stood out to her. "Only one piece of drywall has been removed. Were they *all* behind that one panel?"

Reece nodded. "You gotta talk to the doc about that, though..."

"Henry?" asked Jo, frowning in confusion. "Why would I need to ask him about that..." Jo turned around, looking for the man in question...and had to stop herself from breaking out in laughter when she found him. "Is he sniffing the walls?"

Jo's partner, Detective Mike Hanson, never looked up from his notepad. "The good doc thinks there might be more victims..."

When Henry backed away from one of the sheet rock panels, then cautiously knocked on the same piece of drywall, Jo's humor left her. "That doesn't look good."

Hanson finally looked up from her notepad and, seeing the grim expression on Henry's face, nodded. "Yeah," he agreed.

Henry backed away from the wall, motioning to a nearby CSI tech. The man pulled a screwdriver out of his toolbox and motioned for several other technicians to follow his lead. When he saw where Jo was standing, he moved to her side and pulled her out of the way of where the technicians were operating. "Detective," Henry instructed Jo, "I don't think you want to be standing in that area..."

Two technicians jumped back as the drywall was removed and another half-dozen bodies fell out from behind the wall. Jo stared at the six new bodies in shock. "Dear God," she finally breathed out, as much a prayer as a curse, "eighteen?"

"So far," Henry agreed grimly. "But I somehow doubt that's the end of it."

"So this is a dumping ground?" asked Hanson.

Henry nodded. "It would appear so."

"Do we know how they died?" asked Jo. "And why no one detected any odor before now?"

"I won't know the causes of death for certain until I get all of the bodies back to the lab," Henry explained. He knelt down next to the closest available body for a more detailed examination. "But I do know why the smell of decaying flesh was not detected."

Hanson's eyes widened in surprise at the doctor's casual declaration. "Okay, why?"

"Because," replied Henry, "these bodies have been drained of all their bodily fluids. There was nothing to expedite the process of decomposition until the basement flooded."

"Why would someone go to that kind of trouble to drain the bodies before dumping them?" asked Jo. "Are we looking at a serial? A pro?"

Henry felt around the victim's neck, carefully using his fingers to verify the evidence that he was seeing. He sighed wearily when his sense of touch confirmed that his eyes, unfortunately, were not playing a trick on him...

#

After almost a century of typical English stoicism, the _laissez-faire _attitude of the French was something that Henry was starting to truly enjoy. Everyone that Henry was meeting had been far more concerned with eating great food and drinking great wine than in trying to figure out who he was and why he was in Paris.

And that was perfectly all right by him. Henry stumbled away from the cafe and into the darkening alleyway, enjoying the echoing strings of the quartet and the lingering buzz from his last few glasses of wine. It wasn't that he was bored, exactly. More...tired. Yes, tired was the word he was looking for. He had endured more in his lifetime than any man had any right to endure. More than all but a few men even had the _opportunity _to endure. A hundred and thirty years. He had been alive for a hundred and thirty years. And who knows how many more years of this cursed life would he have to endure? While the world was changing around him, the hearts of men never seemed to change...except to get darker and darker with each passing year. He tried to make a difference. He tried to use his talents for good, but to what end? The longer Dr. Henry Morgan lived, the more he was convinced that he was doomed to be an eternal witness to the worst of man's nature. Surrounded by evil...and, save for the occasional fit of French decadence and revelry, unable to get away from it.

Even in death.

Rough hands grabbed Henry from behind. Henry fought against the hold, thinking the man only to be a desperate robber. A chill ran down his spine, though, when he realized that he was unable to break out of the man's powerful grasp. A second chill radiated through Henry's body when the man started to _sniff _him. "Mmmmm," the thief's voice whispered hoarsely into Henry's ear, "vous sentez divine..." Two sharp blades dug into the soft flesh of Henry's neck. A seal quickly formed around the wound, causing Henry only a moment's discomfort as something drew blood, and life, out of his body...

Water.

Light.

Cold.

_GASP!_

Fresh air.

He was in the Seine.

And naked.

Again.

_Damn._

#

"Henry?"

Henry shook away the sense of disorientation that he associated with the recall of such vivid memories from his past. He looked up to find Jo starting down at him with friendly concern. "Henry? You all right?" she asked gently.

Hanson seemed to be sharing Jo's level of concern. "Yeah, doc, you even look pale by your standards."

Harry shook off the concern as he stood up. "I need to get these bodies back to the lab right away for autopsy and further testing," he declared.

Jo thought she detected the spark of inspiration under Henry's distraction and...was that fear? "You *do* have a theory, then? About what happened to these people?"

A twinge twisted Henry's insides, knowing and dreading the lies he knew he would have to start telling. "These people were murdered," he replied matter-of-factly.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Do you have a theory of *how* these people were murdered," she asked, spelling out her question for emphasis.

Henry vaguely shook his head as he pushed Jo aside to focus his attention on his team. "Detective," he muttered under his breath, "I doubt you would believe me even if I told you..."


	2. Chapter 2

Henry swam the Seine as quickly (and quietly) as he dared. He sighed with relief when he finally reached his houseboat, for once grateful that he had accepted the 'realities' of his curse and bought the boat instead of renting the property he had originally discovered on the Rue Margeaux. While the place was often an uncomfortable reminder of the circumstances that surrounded his 'curse', the boat's location was also an ideal fail-safe should the...unfortunate...occur...

As it had occurred that evening.

But what, exactly, _had _occurred? He had been drained of his blood, that much he could remember, but how? And why? And by whom? The person who had drained him, whoever it was, would have seen Henry disappear before his eyes. And if that person then discovered that the man he had...killed...was not, in fact, dead...

Perhaps there was more than one advantage to owning a house_boat_.

Henry opened the secret compartment he had installed just above the water's edge, biting down on the key as he pulled himself onto the deck. He pulled the key out of his mouth, gently turning the tumblers to open the door...

Only to discover he was not alone in his house. Henry reflexively dropped into a fighter's stance, prepared to defend his life and his home as best he could from the shadowy figure that he could only barely make out by the moonlight streaming through the windows. "Who are you?" demanded Henry. "Why won't you show yourself?"

"Monsieur, I am a gentleman," the shadowy figure insisted. "I assure you, I mean you no harm."

"Is that why you broke into my home to lie in wait for me in the dark of night?" countered Henry. "To mean me no harm?"

The shadowy figure nodded once. "Forgive me, Monsieur. My kind are very well adapted to the darkness...but are far less 'adapted' to the light of oil lamps. The lack of light was originally a bad habit on my part, but given the current situation..."

"Current situation?" argued Henry.

The shadowy figure's hesitation seemed to show proof of his embarrassment. "If you wish to put on at least a basic outer covering, Monsieur, then we can speak openly when you return."

It was then that Henry remembered his own nakedness. The other man had made no moves toward him and was, in point of fact, giving him ample opportunity to return to a state of decency so that they could talk in a civilized manner. "You will be here when I return?" Henry asked warily. "As will all of my belongings?"

"I will, Monsieur," the shadowy figure replied. "I swear upon my love for my country."

Henry nodded in acceptance of the man's obviously passionate promise. He crept toward his bedroom, respectfully noting that the shadowy figure kept his distance as the men switched positions.

#

When Henry re-entered his sitting room, he found that a single candle had been lit and left in the middle of the room for his use. While the shadowy figure was still there, he had continued to remain as far away from the light as he could possibly get. This allowed Henry precious few additional clues as to the identity of the man in the room with him...or his purpose for being there. "Forgive me," the figure explained, clearly nervous. "I am...I am not comfortable around fires of any kind."

Henry raised an eyebrow, curiously surprised by the other man's reaction to the candle. "Would it be all right to light some lamps," Henry asked with wary politeness, "if only to finally see to whom I am speaking?"

The figure continued to hesitate. "You may," he finally agreed.

"Thank you," said Henry. He took the candle and used its flame to light the two closest lamps closest to him. This added more than enough light for Henry to properly see...as well as enough protection to encourage the obviously uncomfortable 'thief' to keep his distance. "Now, if it not too much of an imposition, might we finally get around to who the bloody hell you are and what you are doing in my house?!"

The older-looking man nodded. "Monsieur, I hope that you will forgive me for the rudeness of my entrance, but my curiosity could not wait."

Henry swallowed hard. "Curiosity?"

"About you, Monsieur. I...I was there earlier this evening. I saw what happened."

Henry fought to keep the nervous knot in his stomach from overtaking his composure. "What did you see?" he asked the 'older' man, fighting to keep the question as calm and matter-of-fact as he could.

"I saw you vanish," the 'older' man replied. "I must say, it gave me quite the pause for thought at the time, Monsieur. I came down to the river to consider what I had seen...which is when I saw you re-appear and swim for your ship. I came to the conclusion that I simply had to meet you in person. At once."

Henry's own curiosity got the better of him as he considered what the other man had told him. If the other man's tale was correct, then he had not only seen Henry near the point of his resurrection in almost total darkness, but had also sprinted a good two miles and broke into the houseboat not only without being seen, but without leaving evidence of his handiwork as well. A chill ran down Henry's spine as the circumstances surrounding his latest death came to the front of his mind. "You were not the man who attacked me," he told the other man. "Your voice is far too different."

The other man, to Henry's surprise, seemed to hang his head in shame. "I must also ask for your forgiveness for that dreadful attack, Monsieur. I dealt with the being who attacked you before I came to the river. He will not be bothering you again."

Henry's eyes flew wide as he added, apparently, murder to the list of things that the man in front of him had accomplished while Henry was busy dying and being resurrected. A second chill ran down Henry's spine when he remembered the strength with which his attacker had held him. Strength that an average man did not possibly..."Sir?"

"Yes, Monsieur?"

"The man who attacked me...was he human?"

The 'older' man sighed. "No, Monsieur. He was not."

Henry swallowed the nervous lump that was slowly trying to rob him of the power to speak. "Sir, if I might ask an indelicate question..."

"You wish to know if *I* am human, Monsieur?" Henry nodded. "I am not."

Henry felt terror consume his body from the top of his head to the tips of his toenails. "You are...you are not human? Then what are you?"

The 'older' man finally gave a gentlemanly bow before smiling and revealing a disturbingly inhuman-looking set of sharp, pointed incisors...fangs. "Monsieur, my name is Michel Antoine Raphael des Beaux-Artistes, and I am vampyr. Now, if I may be so bold as to ask the same questions of you. Monsieur...what manner of being are you, exactly?"

#

Eighteen bodies.

Eighteen bodies at once normally meant all hands on deck. The Medial Examiner's office would be abuzz with activity as MEs from multiple precincts would be called to pitch in and make sure that all the bodies were properly autopsied before crucial evidence was lost to decomposition. Henry Morgan, as the case's presiding ME, would work in a more supervisory capacity, pitching in on autopsies whenever needed and carefully reading each of the eighteen autopsy reports to make sure that every "I" was dotted, every "t" was crossed and not a single stone was left unturned.

However, nothing about this case qualified as 'normal'. Lucas stared, open-mouthed, at the withered state of the corpses surrounding him. "Doc," he asked warily, "you sure we shouldn't be calling for backup on this one?"

Henry was unfazed by his young assistant's question, moving quickly and with purpose as he noted the similarities between the victims now populating his lab. "These bodies are unlikely to go through a rapid rate of decay...preserved as they are in this state." He wrote several pieces on information on a clipboard before continuing. "I believe we should be able to take our time with this one."

Lucas had to make a conscious effort to keep his jaw from hitting the floor. "Take our *time*?! What about bringing closure to the families? Bringing the killers to justice in an expedient manner?" A chuckle escaped Louis' lips as an odd thought sprang to his mind. "Unless you think the killer is someone we'll never be able to bring to justice, like a vampire or something..."

"There are no such things as vampires," Henry replied matter-of-factly. His expression was carefully schooled so as to leave Lucas with no evidence as to how close his guess was to what Henry believed to be the actual truth.

"But...you still think we can handle all of these bodies?" countered Lucas. "On our *own*?"

"With some diligent work and careful multitasking on our part," Henry agreed, never looking up from his clipboard, "I am positive that you and I can accomplish anything."

Lucas puffed his chest out with pride, encouraged and inspired by Henry's confidence in him. His expression deflated with equal speed, though, when he realized the true reason why Henry wasn't calling for backup. "This is about the budget, isn't it? It's a lot cheaper to make me work the weekend then to call in a half a dozen MEs to do the autopsies themselves."

Henry's smile caused Lucas' heart to sink. "Why Lucas," Henry nodded approvingly. "You read my mind." He pushed the clipboard against the chest of the younger man. "There are a half-dozen victims who were without identification. Start by running them through facial recognition."

"Got it, doc," Lucas agreed with a weary sigh of disappoointment.

"Don't worry, young man," an older gentleman announced as he entered the morgue, "I think I might be able to save your weekend after all."

Henry turned around at the door to his office, surprised and disturbed to see an 'older' man walking into *his* lab like he owned the place. "I'm sorry," Henry asked the leader of the invasion force, "but who are you, exactly?"

"Doctor Sidney Perlmutter," the 'older' gentleman replied, shaking Henry's hand before handing him a business card. "I'm with the Department of Homeland Security."

Henry turned the card over in his hand, studying it as well as the man standing in front of him. "Your reputation precedes you, Doctor Perlmutter."

"As does yours, Doctor Morgan," agreed Perlmutter.

Henry tucked the card in his pocket for future reference. "So how may I help the Department of Homeland Security, Doctor Perlmutter?"

Perlmutter turned his attention away from Henry and toward the group of bodies surrounding them. "Interesting case you have here. How many victims?"

"Eighteen," Henry replied.

Perlmutter pulled a pair of disposable examination gloves from his coat pocket and put them on. "Any idea of timeline? How long our guy went between kills?"

"Not long, I suspect," replied Henry. "The rate of decomposition seems to suggest that the kills were no more than a week apart."

Perlmutter nodded as he ran his hands over various areas of the body in front of him. "I...see...," he mused, clearly far more distracted by what his hands were feeling than what his ears were hearing. "Even with the dehydration of the bodies? You still think they each died a week apart from each other?"

"I do," Henry agreed.

Seemingly satisfied by the response, Perlmutter stood up and pulled off his examination gloves with an audible snap of the latex. He then turned to Lucas. "What is your name, young man?"

Lucas shook his head, fighting to recover from the shock of the idea that the older ME was actually talking to *him*. "Lucas...Lucas Wahl," he stammered.

"Well, Mister Wahl, I have good news for you," Perlmutter declared with a smile, "you will have your weekend back after all." The smile left his face, though, when Perlmutter turned his attention back to Henry. "Homeland Security will be taking over this case, effective immediately. I'll be back with my team to collect the evidence within the hour."

Perlmutter's pronouncement floored Henry. "On what grounds?!" he called out to the 'older' physician as the other man left.

"An imminent and now classified threat to national security, Doctor Morgan," Perlmutter replied. "Mister Wahl, it was very nice to meet you. Doctor Morgan, please have your staff prepare the bodies to be transported when I return. Oh...and thank you for your cooperation."

Lucas stared after Perlmutter, watching in open-mouthed shock until his boss' predecessor was definitely gone, then turned to Henry. By the look on his boss' face, Lucas was unsure if the man was flabbergasted or furious. _Maybe both, _thought Lucas. "Doc?" he asked Henry gently. "What do you want me to do?"

Henry's expression changed in an instant. "You heard the man," he told Lucas with a casual shrug, "prepare the bodies for transport."

Lucas looked like he had been sucked-punched. "Just like that? You're not going to give up without a fight? Or even a protest?"

"Oh, on the contrary," Henry replied as he turned to head back to his office. "Now," he mused, "I wonder if Abe has any friends with a refrigerated truck..."

Lucas caught the end of Henry's musings...and was now staring at his *boss* in open-mouthed shock. "Doc?" he asked slowly and cautiously, "what are you doing?"

"Securing the evidence," Henry replied casually, "before Doctor Perlmutter has further chance to get his hands on it."

Lucas' eyes flew wide. "You're *stealing* evidence in a Federal case?! For God's sake, why?"

Henry put down the phone's receiver and sighed in defeat. "Lucas," he admitted in a half-conspiratorial whisper, "what if I were to tell you that I believe these people really *were* killed by a vampire?"

Lucas looked like he had been sucker-punched a second time. "A *vampire*?"

Henry looked up, making sure to look Lucas in the eye. The look that Henry gave the younger man sent a chill down Lucas' spine. As outlandish as Henry's declaration might seem, Lucas instantly understood that his boss wholeheartedly believed everything that he was saying...and that belief was coming from a place of sanity, not madness. "Do you believe me?" asked Henry. Lucas nodded, so Henry continued, "then why would you, of all people, want this kind of evidence to wind up in the hands of someone who is much more likely to discount it or bury it than he will be to find the real killer?"

Lucas' face lit up with a renewed sense of purpose. "Don't worry about the truck," he told Henry. "I know where we can get one. Where are we taking them?"

Henry smiled for the second time that day, and Lucas shuddered; when Henry Morgan smiled, Lucas knew, it was a forecast for bad, bad things to come. "Don't worry," Henry reassured his assistant, "I know just the place."


	3. Chapter 3

Lucas was starting to feel guilty. He knew he should be helping his boss. The man was risking everything to discover the truth about this case, and Lucas simply couldn't fault the man for that.

And this case...worst case scenario: Henry had finally gone off the deep end. No matter what Henry Morgan thought of _him, _Lucas considered the man to be a friend, and if that friend was willing to make the effort to include him on his descent into madness, well, then the least he could to was be there for the man and make sure he didn't hurt himself before the men in white coats got there.

But the best case scenario...if Henry really was right...then vampires really existed. _Vampires. _And they were going to go hunting for them! If he could just get some tangible proof...maybe some fangs, or some ashes they could test in the lab...this? This could be a game changer of the highest order. He would be famous! _Lucas Wahl, legendary Vampire Hunter..._

These were the thoughts that were going through Lucas' mind.

In the truck.

The minute that Lucas transferred the first body down to the basement lab was the last minute that the younger man spent thinking about anything related to the current case. Everything about his new surroundings fascinated him: from the dark, exposed brick on the walls to the antique furniture to the combination of modern lab equipment and dissected animal parts in ancient-looking apothecary jars. "It looks like a steampunk version of Frankenstein's lab down here..."

Abe chuckled at the comment even as he helped Henry bring a body down the stairs. "Is he always like this?"

"Much of the time, yes," agreed Henry. "Did you make the call I asked you to make?"

Abe nodded. "Magic Mike will be here in twenty minutes."

The out-of-place pop culture reference caught even Lucas' attention. "Magic Mike? You called for a *stripper*?"

Henry and Abe shared a fleeting moment of confusion and panic before Henry was able to cover with what he hoped would be a solid explanation. "I have an expert source who I have frequently called in to consult on cases such as these," said Henry.

"Yeah," Abe agreed, picking up on where his father was going, "and since his name's kinda hard to pronounce, I've always just called him Magic Mike." The comment seemed to placate Lucas, who quickly went back to perusing everything within an easy sight line. Abe, in turn, returned his attention to his father. "Did you have to bring him?"

"I needed help!" Henry protested. "Eighteen bodies are a lot for anyone to move in thirty minutes."

"But can you trust him?" asked Abe. "You know this little stunt is going to get you both in one giant heap of trouble..."

Henry stole a quick glance at Lucas, who was carefully taking in every inch of detail around him without letting his eyes wander to places where it would have been rude for him to explore. "Lucas has been loyal so far," Henry replied, "and a good friend."

"But can he be *trusted*?" countered Abe.

Henry fully understood the implied question within the spoken one. "I'm not sure yet," he admitted. "For now I suppose we'll have to take things moment by moment."

A knocking sound on the opposing side of some of the exposed brick work interrupted the conversation. Both Abe and Lucas jumped at the sound. Henry, though, seemed unfazed. "Well," he declared, "it seems our guest has arrived." Henry pushed on a loose brick, which caused a hidden panel of bricks to un-hinge from the wall and reveal a heavy wooden door behind it.

Lucas gawked at the mysterious doorway as the wooden door opened to reveal a secret passageway...and the mysterious, distinguished-looking 'gentleman' waiting to be allowed to enter. "I...I was _just there," _he stammered.

Henry ignored Lucas, choosing instead to focus his attention solely on his old friend. "Michel!" he exclaimed before embracing the vampire. "Come in, my old friend! You haven't changed a bit."

"And neither have you, Henri," Michel teased back before turning to his other acquaintance in the room. "Abraham, on the other hand...you seem to only be getting better with age."

"Good to see you, Mike," Abe greeted Michel.

While Abe was polite, it was clear to everyone in the room that the older man was unnerved by his interactions with the Frenchman. Michel decided to try to diffuse some of the tension himself. "You should come over sometime, Abraham. I have some spectacular pieces of post-Napoleonic furniture that would make you a *fortune*..."

The idea of going to the vampire's home sent a shudder down Abe's spine. "Some other time, perhaps. When Henry isn't being chased by the Federal government..."

"Ah yes," Michel clucked, "bien sûr, the case." Michel's jovial mood disappeared when he caught sight of a corpse out of one corner of his eye...and Lucas' gawking stare out of the other corner. The vampire turned to the live human first, offering his hand in greeting. "Michel des Beauxartistes," he introduced himself. "And you are?"

Lucas gasped and gawked without shame. "You...you are...you're a..."

"His name is Lucas, Michel," Henry answered. "Lucas Wahl. He's my assistant."

"Ah," Michel commented, nodding in understanding. "Well, Lucas, Lucas Wahl, I think you need to sleep now."

Lucas collapsed, falling into unconsciousness where he stood. Henry glared at his friend. "I presume you have an explanation for that?"

Michel moved the conversation over to the nearest body as he began his own examination of the victim before him. "Forgive me, old friend. From what I see here, I decided it would be far more expedient for us to talk without having to answer questions that *neither* of us need to be asked right now."

The implied inclusion of Henry in Michel's response disturbed Abe deeply. "What does my father have to do with this?" he demanded.

While Henry glared at his son, silently chastising him for the rudeness of his tone, Michel took to reassuring the younger man. "*Nothing*, Abraham. At least, not yet." Michel then turned to Henry, his anger building with every word of his explanation. "Your killer...this...*awful* beast, this...disgrace to my kind...has been 'cooking' his food before consuming it."

The words that Michel seemed to be so carefully choosing were starting to cause Henry to share the vampire's disgust. "How is he *cooking* them?"

"Dehydration," Michel explained. "To concentrate the blood. Force-feeding them a diet of fat, salt and sugar to expedite the process and sweeten the final result. Then, after roughly five days, when the human is moments away from death...he drains them dry."

The vampire and immortal's sense of discomfort was becoming contagious. "I think I'm gonna be sick," Abe exclaimed.

"Unfortunately," Michel continued, unfazed by Abe's declaration, "this kind of...experimentation tells me two things: first, that we are not dealing with a simple orphan or blood addict. These attacks are carefully planned, starting with a kidnapping and taking at least a week to come to full fruition."

When adding Michel's earlier statement to his explanation, the resulting sum of the parts left Abe with a sinking feeling in his already unsettled gut. "I have a feeling I know where this is going, but what's the second thing?"

Michel stared down his old friend with a mixture of warning, concern, and deepest sympathy. "Sadly, the second thing my examination has told me is that there is no one in this city that your killer will find more desirable..."

"Than me," Henry agreed, finishing the sentence.

Michel nodded. "Your...condition has aged your blood like a fine wine, my friend. An extra century of life has only made you more desirable. Once our killer gets wind of your scent I can assure you he will not stop until he kills you. And if this sadist grows to become aware of your unique circumstances..."

"He will find some way to turn me into his everlasting food source," said Henry.

"I'm almost certain of it," agreed Michel.

"You have a plan, though, right?" asked Abe, his voice taking on an edge of panic. "I mean, you're not just going to let Henry go back out there and be bait...are you?"

Michel squeezed the younger man's shoulder, trying to be as reassuring as possible. "No, Abraham, I am not." He handed the younger man a business card. "I have a friend who runs this group. She is very well versed in the art of fighting this kind of evil."

"Ekaterina Fallon," Abe read off the card. "She's Russian?"

"Was, she would probably say," Michel replied with a chuckle. "In another life."

Henry straightenend up and adjusted his suitcoat. "I should go and meet with this miss Fallon, then..."

"NO!" Abe and Michel both exclaimed at the same time. "You're probably wanted by the Feds now, Henry," Abe insisted.

Michel nodded in agreement. "It is past sunset, so I can 'man the store' and keep the authorities from entering this place of sanctuary. But if I go with you, then we have left your friend over there with no protection from those that are currently pursuing you."

Henry followed Michel's directional prompting to where Lucas was still collapsed in a heap on the floor. "I suppose you are right," he sighed.

"I'll go," Abe volunteered, his voice resolute and determined.

Michel shook his head, surprised by Abe's declaration. "Abraham, are you *sure*?"

Abe swallowed hard. "No," he replied. "But what other option do we have? Lucas?"

Henry frowned, confused by the question. "Why would you be so worried about Abraham meeting with this being?" He grabbed the business card out of Abraham's hands and read it for himself...his face paling with every word that passed before his eyes. "Abraham, are you *sure* about this?"

"No," Abe insisted with a nervous chuckle. "But if either of you can come up with a better idea, now's the time to speak up." The science of the two beings in the room told Abe everything he needed to know. "Then I'll go get my coat."

"And I will take up my position at the front of the store," added Michel.

Henry watched Abe and Michel ascend the stairs until he was stopped by a loud groan coming from the formerly unconscious man at his feet. "All right, Lucas," he told the younger man, "up you go."

Lucas blinked and squinted as his eyes readjusted to the light and his legs readjusted to being underneath him. "What happened?" asked Lucas. "Did I miss anything?"


	4. Chapter 4

The air smelled of coffee, red wine, and stale cigarettes. The few beings in the room sat in a circle in the middle of the barely lit space, talking at a volume that was nearly inaudible to those outside of the circle. _Especially _to the human who, he was sure, was the least interested in being inside that circle at that exact moment. Abe shivered, turning his collar up around his neck even though he was comfortably indoors. "Interesting choice for a meeting place," he mused. "Never thought a group of bloodsuckers would want to meet in a church fellowship hall..."

The meeting broke up, causing Abe to tense up at the idea of several vampires walking right by him. That tension turned to confusion, however, when Abe realized that there wasn't a single vampire showing any interest in him. In fact, several vampires seemed to be turning their noses up at him as they walked past. When Abe found that he was left alone in the room with only the group's leader, he approached her with a mix of caution and curiosity. "Miss Fallon?"

Katya smiled. "Mister...Morgan?" Abe nodded in recognition of the name. "I am Ekaterina Fallon. Michel called and told me you were coming."

"He...called you?"

Katya pulled a smartphone from her pocket and waved it casually, causing Abe to chuckle. "I've heard Michel say he would rather be caught mortal than carry one of those."

"That sounds like something that Michel would say," agreed Katya, sharing the 'older' man's good humor.

"How much did he tell you?" asked Abe.

"Enough," Katya replied as Abe helped her into her coat. "He mentioned that you were going after an elder with a taste for...experimentation."

Abe nodded. "Yeah, that about covers the basic details."

"I presume that means we are now heading to your antique store to examine the evidence?" Abe nodded again. "Then lead the way."

Abe held out his hand to indicate the direction in which Katya should go, and Katya quickly followed. A flash of light off of a piece of metal caught Abe's attention as he opened the car door for his guest. "You're *married*?" Abe exclaimed, clearly stunned by the idea.

Katya nodded, flashing a smile that made Abe instinctively uncomfortable. "Six months now."

"I thought vampires didn't do that sort of thing?" asked Abe.

"Some do," Katya replied as Abe pulled out of the parking space. "But my husband is human."

The shock of Katya's last comment almost caused Abe to slam on the breaks in the middle of Broadway. "Your husband is *human*?" Abe exclaimed. "He's not...?"

Katya's smile grew wider, which did no favors to Abe's increasing discomfort. "My husband is, and will continue to be, as human as you are, Abraham."

Abe shook his head in amazement. "Learn something new every day, I suppose."

Katya frowned. "I thought you and Michel were friends?"

Abe's hands tightened around the steering wheel. "Michel is friends with my...roommate."

"Ah." Katya turned away from Abe to stare out at the passing cityscape. "So you are not familiar with our kind..."

"No, no, I'm familiar with your kind," Abe countered. "I'm just...not a *fan* of your kind, exactly..."

Katya mouthed a silent "oh" in response to Abe's admission. "So you are a species bigot, then?"

"I am not a species bigot!" Abe protested. He was getting ready to pull the car into the center of Columbus Circle when he caught the twinkle in Katya's eye. The very same twinkle that he often saw in Henry's eyes when his 'old man' was deliberately trying to get a rise out of him. The connection and resulting flood of memories caused Abe to chuckle, breaking the tension instantly. "You know, if you do that to your husband you're probably not going to stay married for very long. Take it from the voice of experience on that one."

Katya relaxed as well, making the last few minutes of the drive a far more pleasant experience. "There are a multitude of misconceptions about my kind, Abraham. Please just know that I am only here to help. I am not here to hurt you, your roommate, or anyone else that you care about."

The idea of being hurt by a vampire brought the evening's earlier events back to the front of Abe's mind as he parked the car. "Yeah, about that..."

"What is it, Abraham?" asked Katya.

"That group you run, the HBDA. Does that stand for what I *think* it stands for?"

Katya nodded. "Human Blood Drinkers Anonymous."

"I thought so," Abe agreed, muttering the comment under his breath.

"I take it the nature of my support group was not the source of your concern?" asked Katya.

Abe fidgeted in his seat as he shook his head, suddenly uncomfortable with the thoughts that were running through his mind. "So if your group is full of vampires who are addicted to..."

"Human blood," said Katya.

"Exactly," Abe agreed. "Then why did half of them look at *me* like I was rotting meat?"

"There is a simple explanation for that," countered Katya.

The offhand comment stopped Abe in his tracks. "There is?"

Katya nodded. "It is because of the...marks on your left arm."

"My tatoo?" asked Abe. He rolled up his sleeve to reveal his concentration camp numbers. "*This* tattoo?"

Katya nodded again, looking down at the tattoo with reverential respect. "Suffering taints the blood as it scars the soul, Abraham. And true suffering...true suffering leaves a mark that can never be erased. To my kind, that mark is as repulsive as purity is sweet. Some of my kind develop a taste for such things, but to most of us..."

Abe shook his head in disbelief. "Are you saying that because I survived a concentration camp, it protects me from vampires?"

"That is exactly what I am saying," Katya replied.

"Wow," mouthed Abe as he rolled his sleeve back down over the tattoo. It was then that something Katya mentioned to Abe finally struck him as odd. "Wait a second, how did you know that I have this?"

Katya's smile was enigmatic. "You really do not remember me, do you, Abraham?"

#

"This is it," Jeffers muttered nervously. "We're gonna die out here. We're all gonna die out here..."

"Will you can it?" Abe whispered harshly. "We'll be *fine*. If you just shut up and quit giving away our location we'll be *just* *fine*."

"But that's just it!" Jeffers spat back. "We're *lost*! We got separated from the rest of our squad, and now we don't know where the hell we are! If the Cong don't get us it's going to be the damn tigers, or the bugs, or we'll just step in some quicksand or something and drown..."

Abe slapped Jeffers, hoping that the contact was violent enough to snap the younger man out of his panic. "That's why we've stopped for the night, you moron! But if you don't shut the hell up then everything you're so goddamn scared of is *going* to come true! You got that?!" Abe twisted the stock of his own rifle around in his hand, grateful for every splinter even as his knuckles turned white from the pressure.

A sound caused both men to nearly jump out of their lean-to. "What the hell was that?!" Jeffers exclaimed in a panic, his voice getting dangerously close to screaming.

Abe dropped his rifle to cover Jeffers' mouth with his hands. "Jeffers, so help me God, if you don't shut the hell up, I am going to..."

The sound of a gunshot cut off Abe's threat. He pushed Jeffers away, sending both men scrambling for their rifles. They loaded their weapons in a hurry, firing in a panic in the direction they thought they heard the shot come from.

It was quickly looking hopeless. Answering fire came back from all directions. Abe knew if they stayed where they were, they really were dead men. He scanned the area looking for an exit strategy. Moonlight seemed to be pouring into a clearing not twenty feet from them. He pointed the direction out to Jeffers. "On three," he told the younger man. "Run."

Jeffers couldn't wait. "Three," he exclaimed. Jeffers jumped up, sprinting through the darkened jungle in a mad dash for the clearing.

He collapsed. Dead. Shot in the back as he ran.

Abe swallowed hard, fighting his own urge to panic. He heard Vietnamese. The enemy soldiers were calling out to each other, probably to search for him. If he stayed where he was, he was dead. They were sure to find him. But if he ran, he was going to be dead anyway, just like Jeffers. _My God, _he thought. _This really is it. I'm really gonna die._

An unearthly growl ripped through the air. To Abe, it felt like the sound had stopped the world...until the loud crack of a snapping neck sparked time itself back to life. The enemy were yelling louder now, but their voices were mixed with the dying screams of their comrades. Guns were being fired again, but Abe knew they weren't being fired at *him* now. And that growl...that growl grew louder and louder as the cacophony of death grew quieter and quieter...until the jungle was once again silent.

He had made it.

He was alive.

And unlike his father, he didn't have to die first to get away from hell unscathed.

Abe poked his head up, deciding to test fate to make sure that the coast was absolutely clear. And it was then that he saw her, just for a second. Even though he had no idea exactly _what_ it was that he was seeing. The person he was seeing short, that much he knew. It was probably a girl...or possibly just some Vietnamese kid. But a kid wouldn't have eyes that sparkled in the full moon's light. Or blood dripping from their...fangs...

#

Abe shook his head, blinking as memories of the past superimposed upon the sight before him in the present. The constant against the contrast sent his jaw to the floor. _My dark little angel..._he thought. _I wasn't hallucinating that night. She's a vampire. She's *real*... _"My God," Abe finally whispered. "That night...that was *you*?!"

Katya nodded. "I recognized you the second you walked into that church tonight. I never forget a face."

"Yeah, I'll bet you don't," he muttered.

"I was tracking an elder who was helping the Viet Cong," Katya continued. "When I heard the sounds of the ambush that night I knew I had to help you."

"Well, I'm certainly glad you did," Abe agreed with a grateful chuckle. "So is that what you *do*? Go after vampires that hunt humans?"

A flash of guilt crossed Katya's face. "I have sworn to protect the human race," she declared solemnly, "from any being that means to do it harm."

The conviction in Katya's words and the memories of his own experience caused a lump to form in Abe's throat. He straightened up, got out of the car and ran around to the passenger side door to open it for Katya and offer her his arm. "In that case," he declared, "shall we get started?"

#

_Okay, check in time. Anyone paying attention to this crazy little flight of fantasy besides me and the awesome phnxgirl? I wanna hear from you! Love it? Hate it? Confused? What do you think of Katya and Michel so far? Am I getting the Forever stuff right? Let me know in the comments!_

_Coming soon: Guardians and cops and vampires, oh my!_


	5. Chapter 5

**_A/N: _**_I might be rushing this chapter out a little fast (it's a little short). But it was so nice to see the comments you guys left I felt I needed to get out what I already had asap. A special shout-out has to go to Tamara Dielen. For someone to say that the only knock they have against your writing is that you don't write enough...wow. I think that might have made my *year*. For someone who doesn't leave comments very often you sure know how to leave some great ones :-)._

_Anyway, enjoy, everyone!_

#

"I don't like this."

Hanson watched his fidgety partner with great sympathy. "Have a *little* patience, Jo. It's not like Morgan's your personal private ME."

Jo turned her attention from her distracted thoughts back to her partner. The look on his face caused her to chuckle and return to her senses. "I know, you're right," she sighed. "I guess I've just gotten used to Henry giving me a solid set of leads to work from before I've even left the crime scene. So to have him act like he did at the church and not call..."

Hanson swore there was an extra depth of emphasis in the way that his partner was worrying about Morgan's lack of contact. "Are you worried about the case, or are you worried about *him*?"

"The case," Jo replied, quick and defensive. "I'm worried about the case."

_Yeah, right, _thought Hanson. "Of course," Hanson agreed, his tone proving how little he believed Jo's words. "You're worried about 'the case'."

Jo picked up a pencil and, only at the last minute, resisted the urge to throw it at her partner. "The victims we have IDs on," she asked Hanson. "How much do we know about them? Any commonalities?"

"Not many," Hanson admitted with a weary sigh. "Just about all our vics are runaways. They were born in a dozen different states. It's not likely they knew each other."

"Let's keep digging," Jo encouraged Hanson. "There's gotta be a connection somewhere."

"What's the status on the church case?" asked Reece.

Hanson leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Unfortunately, we haven't figured out much beyond the idea that our boy has a type."

"And what type is that?" asked Reece.

"Runaways," Jo replied. "We're still waiting on the ME's preliminary report."

Reece raised a curious eyebrow at that. "Doctor Morgan hasn't gotten you his prelims yet?"

"Could that be because he seems to have fled town with the evidence?"

Jo, Hanson, and Lieutenant Reece all jumped at the new voice entering the conversation. Reece was the first to regain her composure. "I'm sorry, and you are...?"

"Doctor Sidney Perlmutter," Perlmutter replied. "Homeland Security. I saw your colleague an hour ago about the Saint Stephen's Episcopal case. At that time, I informed him that the department would be taking the case off your hands."

Jo's eyes went wide. "What?!" she exclaimed. "Why? On what grounds..."

Perlmutter stopped Jo before she could go further. "That's not important right now. What *is* important is that your ME and his assistant Lucas Wahl have disappeared. Along with the eighteen bodies recovered from the scene."

Jo opened her mouth to protest, but was silenced by her commanding officer. "Why would you think that we would know anything about the comings and goings of Doctor Morgan and his assistant, Doctor Perlmutter?"

Perlmutter crossed the room until he was standing nose-to-nose in front of Jo. "The remaining members of Doctor Morgan's team gave me the distinct impression that you and the good Doctor spend an awful lot of time together, Detective...Martinez, is it?" When Jo nodded curtly, Perlmutter pushed further. "Almost as if the two of you were partners..." Jo stared Perlmutter down, unfazed by his comments. Her silence, though, pushed Perlmutter to play his trump card. "Doctor Morgan has no idea what kind of forces he is playing with, Detective Martinez," he insisted, urgency creeping into his voice. "If Doctor Morgan is your partner...if you even care for the man at *all*...you'll help me find him. Now please, Detective, where is Henry Morgan?"

Jo blinked, swallowing once before answering. "I'm very sorry, Doctor Perlmutter. I wish I could help you but I can't. I have no idea where the medical examiner is."

Perlmutter sighed, his heart heavy with disappointment at Jo's answer. "I'm sorry too, Detective." He turned away from the 11th precinct, pulling out a cell phone as soon as he got past the front entrance. "It's Grumpy. It's just like you said. She's not going to give him up. Doctor...Henry...Morgan. Yes, he's the chief medical examiner. Yes, he was my replacement. Do you have a problem with that? I didn't think so...all right, I can be uptown in an hou..."

'Grumpy' vanished into thin air before he was capable of finishing the sentence.

#

Hanson studied the mixture of fear and determination on Jo's face before turning to his Lieutenant. "Are we just going to let them go after the Doc?"

"Hell no," Reece replied, her expression radiating her sheer stubborn resolve. "Morgan is our own, and we take care of our own. Ourselves. Now just because Doctor Morgan found something that he didn't want the Feds to find, that doesn't mean he doesn't want *us* to find it. Hanson, go over those victim profiles again. And *keep* going over them until you find us what we need to catch this son of a bitch, you got that?"

Hanson answered his superior with renewed determination. "Yes, ma'am."

Reece nodded, sending the man off to work before turning to his partner. "You were lying to Doctor Perlmutter just now, were you not?"

"I was," Jo admitted.

"Then go to him," Reece ordered her detective. "Find out whatever's going through that crazy head of his and why he felt he couldn't share it with the rest of the class."

"Yes, ma'am," said Jo.

Once Jo had gotten herself together and was at the bullpen door, Reece realized that she had one last warning for the detective. "And Martinez?"

"Yeah?"

"For God's sake, try to keep the man from getting himself killed."

Jo sighed, knowing that that was the one order she wasn't completely sure she could keep. "I'll do my best, ma'am."

#


	6. Chapter 6

Abe had barely closed the car door behind Katya when a very familiar woman came up from behind them. He tried not to let the surprise show...and failed miserably. "Jo!" he exclaimed, chuckling more out of nerves than good humor, "what a pleasant surprise!"

"Abe," Jo greeted him, "I'm glad I caught you. Do you have any idea where Henry is?"

"Henry?" asked Katya.

"My roommate," Abe explained. "This is Jo Martinez, his partner."

Katya frowned, not wanting to make assumptions. "Partner? I thought your roommate was a medical examiner."

Jo tried to clarify things by introducing herself. "I'm Detective Jo Martinez, NYPD. Doctor Morgan and I often work cases together." She turned her attention fully back to Abe. "We're *supposed* to be working a case together right now," Jo explained to Katya while never taking her eyes off of Abe, "but Henry seems to have run off with the evidence."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you, Jo," Abe countered, trying to sound casual but failing to sound anything but terrified, "but I don't know where he is."

"You don't?" asked Jo. Abe shook his head...and Jo wasn't buying it for a second. "You're lying, Abe. Where is he?"

Katya put her hand on Jo's arm, forcing the younger woman's attention in her direction. "Detective Martinez?"

"What?" Jo spat out, none too happy to have her showdown with Abe Interrupted.

_"Abraham does not know where Henry is," _Katya instructed Jo calmly.

Jo's reply was hypnotic, devoid of all emotion. "Abraham does not know where Henry is," she repeated.

_"This trip was a waste of time," _Katya continued.

"This trip was a waste of time," repeated Jo.

_"You will simply need to look for him somewhere else," _Katya concluded, breaking the connection between them.

Jo shook her head, blinking away the disorientation as her mind returned to the present. "Uh...sorry about that, Abe," she apologized. "Henry's probably just on a dinner break somewhere. I just...I'll go look for him at that pub by the morgue..."

Abe had to forcibly cover his mouth to keep from laughing lest he break the 'spell'. Once Jo was well out of earshot, however, he let his voice speak up again. "Ekaterina?"

"Please, call me Katya," Katya replied, trying not to be *too* pleased with herself.

"Okay, Katya. I've said and thought a lot of awful things about your kind in the past..."

"Yes?"

Abe opened the door to enter the basement. "I take 'em all back. Let's go."

"Agreed," said Katya. "I fear our window of opportunity is growing smaller by the second."

#

Michel had joined Henry and Lucas in the basement lab, helping with some of the parts of the autopsies that required more force. He sensed Katya's entrance into the building before he ever laid eyes on her. "_Ma chatte,_" he called out to his friend, "You should see this. I have been helping with the..._comment l'appelle, Henri?"_

"Autopsies," Henry replied.

"Yes!" Michel exclaimed. "I have never seen the human body from this perspective, _ma chatte. _Fascinating, simply fascinating..." Katya chuckled, enjoying her old friend's exuberance.

That laughter got Lucas' attention almost immediately. He looked up from the body that Michel had been holding open for him. "Are you...are you another vampire, like Michel?"

"I am," Katya replied in greeting. "Ekaterina Fallon, at your service."

Lucas shook his head, chuckling in amazement. "Wow..."

"Have you found anything, gentle..." When Michel glared at Henry he changed his question mid-stream with a sigh. "Forgive me. Gentle-beings?" Michel gave a nod of approval.

"Beings?" asked Lucas.

"Most vampires don't like being called men or women, since we're technically not human," Katya explained. "Beings is a good generic term to use when you are unsure."

Lucas nodded, mouthing a silent "oh" before turning to his boss. "This is way more than what you said in the prelim, doc."

"Really?" asked Henry. "How so?"

Michel and Lucas shared an unspoken communicative glance before Michel decided he was the one who should give the explanation. "My friend, when a vampire feeds, they take the blood and *only* the blood. Whatever killed these children took...everything. If this being is a vampire it has some sort of mutation I have never seen before."

"I have," Katya declared grimly.

Michel turned to his old friend. "You have seen this type of kill before, _ma chatte_?"

Katya nodded. "The beast we are hunting is a Jiangshi."

Lucas' eyes widened when he realize that *he* recognized the name. "A Jiangshi? We're hunting a real, live, Jiangshi?"

Henry frowned. "You have heard of this Jiangshi before, Lucas?"

"Are you kidding?" Lucas exclaimed. "Midnight Vampire, Encounters of the Spooky Kind One *and* Two, Mister Vampire...yes, I am something of a Jiangshi cinéaste..."

Henry rolled his eyes, embarrassed by the arrogant display of ignorance by his assistant. "Please," he insisted, cutting Lucas off, "Katya, please, continue. What is this Jiangshi?"

"Jiangshi are creatures that combine the most lethal characteristics of the vampyr and what your culture calls zombies. But instead of feeding on simply brains, a Jiangshi will devour every single thing about a person that gives them life."

A spark of inspiration fired into Henry's mind; he raced across the room until he was standing just behind the last body he was examining. One lift of the corpse's head confirmed all of his darkest suspicions. "My God..." he gasped.

"What is it, doc?" asked Lucas.

"Lift up Miss Benson's head over there, will you? Tell me what you feel." Henry's voice trailed off as he got lost in his own musings. "Or rather, what you don't feel..."

Lucas obeyed his mentor's instructions. He lifted up the head of the corpse he was working on...and nearly dropped it, stunned as his discovery seemed to match Henry's. "Her brain...her brain's just *gone*! How the hell could a zombie have eaten her brain when there's no entry wounds in the head?!"

Henry kept an eye on Katya for confirmation as he gave voice to the theories running through his mind. "I suspect, Lucas, that the brains are not simply gone. They're dehydrated to the point of near non-existence?" When Katya nodded, Henry then continued, "the Jiangshi is somehow taking the brain fats and grey matter, isn't it?"

Katya nodded. "A Jiangshi feeds first on the chi of its victims to drive them in to a more compliant and comatose state. Once it has absorbed that energy, the victim is essentially what you would call brain-dead. From there, feasting on the rest of the body is a simple proposition."

"How long would that take?" asked Michel.

"It could take a day. It could take a week..." Katya switched over to telepath communication with her old friend when she got wind of what the older being was thinking. _My friend, are you *sure* about this?_

_It fits the evidence, does it not, ma chatte, _Michel countered. _You can see as much for yourself..._

A discretely placed, throat-clearing cough caught their attention. "Not everyone can read minds, you two," Henry warned Michel and Katya.

Lucas' eyes were threatening to fall out of his head. "You guys can _read minds?"_

"Only the minds of...certain types of beings," Katya explained patiently. "But it is often an efficient way for two vampires to communicate."

Lucas swallowed nervously. "Can you read *my* mind?" Katya shook her head.

Determined to bring everyone's focus back to the case, Henry spoke up quickly. "Do you have something to share with the rest of us?"

Michel swallowed hard. "_Mon ami, _I believe our true enemy may be a vampire Mage."

Lucas found himself on suddenly unsteady legs. "Magic is real, *too*?"

"Easy, Lucas," Henry guided his assistant into a chair to help with the obviously oncoming panic attack. "Deep breaths." He then turned his attention back to the vampires. "Why do you think this might be a vampire _Mage, _Michel? I thought your kind did not possess such capabilities."

"I did as well, before now," Michel agreed.

"It is a combination I have not seen in centuries," agreed Katya. "But a Jiangshi has no mind of its own. It is a being that is usually created by a Mage of great power and a truly dark nature. Plus, the primary food of a Jiangshi is the chi of its victims, not the blood. A vampire Mage could, theoretically, use a Jiangshi to lure its victims into compliance, take the blood, then leave the rest for the pleasure of the Jiangshi."

"Like giving dog treats to a puppy for good behavior," muttered Abe.

Katya nodded. "Yes, that's it, exactly."

"How would we find this vampire Mage?" asked Henry.

Katya paused for a moment, thinking over the matter carefully. "A Jiangshi will always return to its master at dawn, since daylight is as toxic to its kind as it is to mine. I suppose the most prudent course of action would be to find the Jiangshi's hunting ground and follow it home."

"So you guys are just going to search all of New York City?" asked Abe. "That sounds like it would take a hell of a long time, even for a vampire..."

Lucas spoke up, cutting off Abe's argument before it had a chance to pick up steam. "Covenant House."

"Covenant House?" asked Katya.

"Most of these victims are runaways," Lucas explained, "and Covenant House is a group safe house for those kinds of kids. If that's what the Mage is sending the Jiangshi after, then Covenant House and Port Authority are the two most target-rich environments in the city. And they're right next to each other."

"Then that is where we will go," declared Henry.

"I am sorry, old friend," said Michel, "but I cannot join you in such an endeavor."

Henry paused in putting on his coat before he caught up to Michel's logic. "A pre-dawn surveillance mission would mean that you would have to come back in the full light of day. Forgive me, old friend. I wasn't thinking."

"I'd like to stay here, too, if that's all right with everyone," Lucas spoke up in a voice that still seemed a bit shaky. "I have a million questions..."

Michel smiled...an unnerving, fang-revealing grin. "I will be happy to answer any questions you have, my boy."

Henry chuckled while Lucas swallowed nervously. "It's quite all right, Lucas. The first thing you should learn is that most vampires do not survive on human blood. They have very strict rules about it."

"Rules that this _ublyudok _has broken time and time again," Katya agreed, her face set in a grim mask of determination. "Which is why we must do what we can to stop him. And quickly."

Abe jangled the keys to his car. "Then I guess it's time for us to get a move on, Henry. We're burning moonlight."

Henry nodded, following his son out of the basement...only to discover, to his surprise, that Katya was also following him. "You're coming with us?" asked Henry.

Katya nodded. "I do not have the same problems with daylight that most of my kind have."

"Now _that _is a story I would be interested in hearing," Henry suggested.

Katya gestured toward the top of the stairs. "I shall tell you on the way."

#

"Can we come by and talk to you about it tonight? We can? Thanks so much, Jess. I really owe you for this one." Jo hung up the phone and turned to her partner, clearly excited by what she had heard in her phone conversation. "That was Jessica, one of my CI's. She just got a job running the night desk at Covenant House."

"And?" asked Hanson.

_"And_ every one of our vics has passed through the place within the last three months."

That was all Hanson needed to hear. "Let's go."

#

"Thanks, guys. We'll go check it out tonight. Hey, we'll be seeing you Saturday night for dinner, right? It'll be nice to see you, too. Okay, bye." Ryan hung up the phone and turned to his team. "That was the kids at Covenant House again."

Hearing who was on the phone caught Castle's attention immediately. "Did another kid go missing?"

Ryan shook his head. "No, everyone's still accounted for that they know of. But apparently there's an, and I quote, 'ancient old car' with three people in it that's just parked itself outside of the shelter. According to Nick, the three people are an old guy behind the wheel, a guy who seems to match Grumpy's description of Henry Morgan..."

"And?" asked Esposito.

"And I think Katya might be with them."

"Katya?" asked Beckett. "What's Katya doing working on this? Without us?"

Castle got up from his desk. "Anyone else care to go find out?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Well, *that* was a bust," sighed Jo.

"Yeah," Hanson agreed sympathetically. "With their admissions being so far apart it's unlikely any of our vics ever knew each other. C'mon. The bowling alley in the Port Authority makes surprisingly good hot dogs."

The two cops turned and started walking toward the bus terminal, giving Hanson the opportunity he needed. "Martinez, can I ask you about something?"

"Shoot," said Jo.

"What is up with you and Morgan?" asked Hanson. "You two dating or something?"

Jo gasped in shock and blushed with embarrassment at the idea. "What?! No! I mean, we're friends, but..."

Hanson turned and stopped his partner in the street. "Jo, you spend more time working your cases with _him_ than you do with _me_. Now, what you do with Morgan on your time is your business..."

"Hanson, Henry..."

"No, Martinez, I get that Morgan's been really helpful lately..."

Jo interrupted Hanson. "No, Hanson. Henry's going into Port Authority."

Hanson shook his head, fighting to switch his train of thought back to the current situation as he watched the medical examiner go through the doors of the bus terminal. "You think he might be trying to skip town?"

"Not with Homeland Security on his case," replied Jo. "Port Authority cops would have his photo by now."

"Who's the girl with him?" asked Hanson.

Jo quickened her pace. "Don't know. But I suggest we find out."

"Agreed," said Hanson.

The two cops went into surveillance mode, keeping themselves at a discreet distance. "They're splitting up," said Jo. "I'll follow Henry, you follow the girl?"

Hanson nodded. "Good luck."

"You too," agreed Jo. She split off from her partner, following Henry through the North Terminal as he quickly went up the escalator to the second floor and then up a second elevator to the bus departure gates.

A Port Authority cop recognized Jo and called out to her before she got on the second escalator. "Detective...?"

Jo raised a hand to stop the transit cop before he blew the operation completely. "I'm in pursuit of a suspect. Can you make sure your team keeps people at a distance?"

The transit cop nodded. "You got it, detective."

The crowds fell away quickly once Jo was on the third floor; it wasn't long before less than a dozen people stood between Henry and his target..._Is that guy *hopping*? _thought Jo.

The hops of Henry's target started to echo across the empty terminal space. Henry seemed to be at a loss for what to do; he was hiding behind his own pillar, peeking out occasionally to see where his target was hopping off to. But the PA had closed the gates, effectively sealing off Hopping-Boy's exit routes.

And Hopping-Boy seemed to have lost any interest in going anywhere; he was just standing in the middle of the road, sniffing the air. _Good luck with that, _thought Jo. _How can you smell anything in here but bus exhaust and bum pi..._

A wayward breeze seemed to catch Hopping-Boy's attention. He turned his head in Henry's direction, but didn't run. He just lifted a hand in Henry's direction...

...and Henry started choking.

Jo was frozen, her mouth hanging open in stunned shock and confusion. She couldn't understand why Henry was choking. Hopping-Boy was acting like it was his doing, but that was _impossible_; they were ten feet away from each other. Still, Hopping-Boy had his eyes closed, like he was drinking in some sort of twisted satisfaction from Henry's suffering...

Henry collapsed, slumping to the ground like he was...Jo didn't want to think about it. She pulled out her weapon and leveled it at Hopping-Boy. "POLICE!" she screamed, trying to get Hopping-Boy's attention. "FREEZE!" Hopping-Boy stared blankly at Jo, confused. "GET DOWN ON THE GROUND!" Jo yelled. "NOW!"

Hopping-Boy ignored her. He just started hopping away. Faster, though, like he had gotten a second wind from Henry's suffering. Jo wanted to take off after the guy...but Henry needed medical attention. "STOP!" she yelled. When Hopping-Boy ignored her, she did the only thing she could. She fired.

The bullet hit Hopping-Boy in the shoulder, but he never flinched or stopped.

Jo fired again, hitting Hopping-Boy in the leg.

Nothing.

In the other leg.

Nothing.

Jo emptied her clip into Hopping-Boy. He never acknowledged her once, and didn't stop until he got to the steel gate, punched a hole through it, and hopped away. Jo was stunned, staring at the mangled, now fully open gate. _What the hell just happened? Oh, God...Henry..._

"Martinez!"

Hanson took off running when he saw Jo hunched over a body, giving it CPR. He gasped when he recognized who Jo was so feverishly working on. "Crap," he muttered, "Morgan..."

Jo shifted over to allow her partner to start chest compressions while she continued mouth-to-mouth. "The girl?" Jo asked quickly between breaths.

"Lost her," Hanson replied quickly, his focus entirely consumed by keeping Morgan alive. "What happened here?"

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Jo spat out between breaths.

The mysterious woman Hanson had been following arrived, followed by another woman and three men. "Which way?" asked the smaller woman.

"Isn't it _obvious?!" _Jo exclaimed.

It was then that the newcomers saw the hole in the gate. "Beckett," the tall man pleaded, asking the taller woman a seemingly unspoken question.

The taller woman - Beckett - closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath of the stale, putrid air. Her eyes opened with renewed determination. "I got him, but it's fading fast. Boys?"

"Yes ma'am," the younger two of the three men replied.

"I'll stay here with Morgan," the older man declared. "Be careful."

"Always," Beckett agreed with a warm smile.

Most of the group took off at a speed Jo would have found alarming...if she were thinking that far ahead. The older man knelt beside Jo just as the awful truth was sinking in. "How is he?" the man asked.

Jo and Hanson looked to each other first before Jo broke down crying. The older man put his fingers on Henry's pulse-less neck and sighed in grim sympathy. "I'm so sorry," he told Jo in an attempt at consolation. "We should have gotten here sooner."

"Who are you?" asked Jo.

The older man opened his mouth to speak...but the group's focus instantly diverted away from introductions when the body at their feet vanished.

Jo and Hanson scrambled away from the spot like it had caught fire. "What the hell just happened?" exclaimed Hanson.

The older man held up his hands in an oddly defensive gesture. "I swear, that wasn't me," he declared.

The two cops looked at the man as if he had grown an extra head. "How..." Jo finally stammered out. "Why..."

Their conversation was cut off by the return of the pursuit squad. "We lost him," the taller woman declared. "I tracked him to Times Square but there was just too much to filter. I'm sorry."

"What happened?" asked the younger, blond-haired man. "Where's Morgan?"

"He died," Jo declared quietly, letting those words sink in as truth. "But then he..."

"Vanished," Hanson picked up the narrative, his own voice starting to weaken from shock. "His body just went *poof*. And disappeared."

The four who pursued Henry's killer all seemed to glare at the older man in unison. "I didn't move him, I swear it," the older man replied defensively.

"Castle..." warned Beckett.

"I didn't!" Castle countered defensively. "Whatever happened to Morgan's body was. Not. My. Doing."

"Regardless," the smaller woman chimed in, taking over the conversation. "We should probably let Abraham know what has happened here."

A handful of voices spoke up in simultaneous cacophony. "Abe's _here?"_ exclaimed Jo.

"Is he the old guy in the car?" asked the younger, Hispanic-looking man.

"The guy we heard you were with outside Covenant House?" added the blond.

The shorter woman silenced the group with a raised hand. "Yes, Detective Martinez. Abraham is outside, with the car." She then turned to the rest of the group, "And yes, honored ones, Abraham is the man I was with outside of Covenant House, along with Doctor Morgan."

The group seemed to come up with the same question in unison, all leveling it at the shorter woman at the same time. "Wait, you _know _them?!"

"All will be revealed in time, I am certain," the shorter woman replied. "But should not our larger priority be reaching the man who just lost a friend?"

The group silently nodded.

#

Abe felt his heart sink as the group approached his car. While he had no idea who four of the members of the group were, the fact that Katya was coming back with Jo and her partner - and without Henry - was a bad sign. A very, very bad sign. He got out of the car and stood beside the driver's side door, determined to take the news standing up. "Katya?" he asked once the group had fully reached him. "What's happened?"

Jo spoke first, feeling that she wanted, no, _needed _to be the one to break the bad news. "Abe, I'm sorry. I really don't know how to tell you this, but Henry's gone."

"Gone?" asked Abe. "As in...?" When Jo nodded, Abe pushed for full confirmation of his suspicions. "Then where is he? I haven't seen an ambulance or a coroner's van..."

"His body disappeared," Jo replied. "I don't know how, but one minute it was there and the next..." Jo found herself growing angry when Abe didn't seem sad or grief-stricken, but was instead growing fidgety and more impatient by the second. "You know what's going on here, don't you?"

Abe sighed, knowing there was no way to get around it this time. "He's never died this publicly before..." he muttered.

Beckett's eyes widened when she processed what she was hearing. "You mean Doctor Morgan is..."

"We need to go," Abe declared. "With Homeland Security on Henry's tail we've got even less time than usual. Katya, you coming?"

Katya nodded and jumped over to the passenger side door. "Where are we going?" she asked Abe.

"The East River," Abe replied.

Esposito put two and two together quickly. "The indecent exposure charges? They tie into _this_?"

Abe nodded. "We need to go."

Beckett turned to her fiancé. "Castle, go with them. We'll follow you there." Castle nodded and climbed into the back seat.

#

The first rays of dawn's early light were just starting to come up over the East River when Abe's car finally arrived, followed by Jo's. The group piled out of both cars, watching Abe as the older man scanned the river, carrying a blanket and a clean pair of sweats.

Jo had never felt more out of the loop in her life. "Will someone _please _tell me what in God's name is going on here?"

"There!" Abe exclaimed. "There he is!"

Beckett's eyes zoomed in on the spot where Abe was pointing. "Well I'll be damned," she exclaimed.

"It's him?" asked Esposito.

Beckett nodded. "Yeah, it's him."

Jo felt like Beckett's comment had knocked the wind out of her. "Henry?"

"See for yourself," said Beckett.

Jo let her eyes follow Beckett's line of sight...and suddenly found herself on horribly unsteady legs. "Henry..." she gasped.

On the shores of the East River, wrapped in Abe's blanket, was a very wet, very naked, very *alive* Henry Morgan.


	8. Chapter 8

Even as he stood shivering on one of the few open stretches of East River shoreline, Henry Morgan wasn't worried about his body temperature, or the fact that he was currently wearing no clothes underneath the wool blanket he was wrapped in. On the contrary, he was _far _more worried about the woman he was seeing out of the corner of his eye. And the look on her face...that look just might be inscribed into his memory for the rest of his long, long life. "She knows, doesn't she?" asked Henry.

Abe sympathetically patted his father on the shoulder. "They all do, evidently."

Henry's face paled as he counted just how many people were waiting for him at the entrance to the beach. "I'm in a great deal of trouble, aren't I?"

"Yep," agreed Abe. Henry sighed, pulling the blanket around him ever tighter as father and son walked slowly up the beach to the confrontation that awaited them.

Castle decided the best course of actions was to start with introductions. "Doctor Morgan, I'm Richard Castle. These are my...associates: Kate Beckett, Kevin Ryan and Javier Esposito."

Henry shook each of their hands, grateful for the opportunity to keep the hardest conversation at bay, at least for a moment. "A pleasure to meet all of you," he replied politely.

Esposito shook his head after shaking Henry's hand, his mind reeling from having to process more memories than he had had to process from a handshake in a long time. "Can I ask you a blunt question, Doctor Morgan?"

"What would you like to know, Mister Esposito?" asked Henry.

"How old are you, exactly?"

Henry swallowed hard, suddenly consumed by nerves. "I am thirty-five years old. Why do you ask?"

Esposito was in no mood to play games, not with the headache that was tempting to pound its way through his temples. "And exactly how long have you _been _thirty-five, Doctor?"

Henry sighed, knowing that Esposito's question had been phrased in such a way as to leave him no good answer save the truth. "Since my first death in 1814."

Jo suddenly needed Hanson's help to keep her on her feet. "You're 235 years old?"

Henry nodded. "I'm sure you all have a lot of questions..."

"Yeah, that might be the understatement of the _decade," _agreed Hanson.

"Perhaps we should take this discussion someplace more private?" Castle suggested.

When all heads nodded in unanimous agreement...their surroundings changed in the blink of an eye. Henry joined his son and his friends in gawking in open-mouthed shock both at the stark, concrete warehouse and at the clean, crisp white shirt and khakis that had replaced the wet wool of the blanket. "Where _are_ we?" asked Hanson.

"Ever hear of the Guardians?" asked Castle.

While Henry shook his head, Jo and Hanson seemed to go into a whole new round of shock. "You guys are actually _real?" _Hanson exclaimed. "I just thought you were some whacked out urban legend that my kids believed in..."

"Like the alligators in the sewers?" asked Ryan.

Hanson's eyes went wide. "They're not real _too, _are they?!" Ryan chuckled and shook his head.

"Pardon me," Henry interrupted the conversation as politely as he could, "but what are the Guardians, exactly?"

"We are the descendants of an ancient organization dedicated to protecting the world from the threats that it is unwilling or unable to believe in," Ryan replied.

"I first heard about you guys a couple of years ago," Jo explained, "when a couple of my friends swore up and down that they were attacked by dragons in Times Square. Then a couple more of my friends were just as sure that they saw you guys fighting dragons in Central Park..."

Henry rolled his eyes. "Jo, you're starting to make these people sound like something out of Arthurian legend...or a fantasy movie."

"Kinda like a 235 year-old immortal medical examiner?" asked Abe.

Henry blushed, suitably chastised. "Touché."

"So you're immortal, doctor?" asked Castle.

"Well, I haven't found a way to permanently die _yet,_" Henry replied. "The first time I died I was the doctor on a ship bringing cargo to the New World. I was shot in the chest and thrown overboard. Next thing I knew I was washing up on shore, naked, with a scar where the bullet had entered my body. Since that day I have not aged, and every time I die I resurrect, naked, in the nearest body of water."

Beckett seemed inspired by Henry's story. "Was there a storm the night you died, Doctor Morgan?"

Henry's brow furrowed in confusion. "Yes...why?"

"May I see one of your wrists?" asked Beckett. Henry offered his wrist without protest. Beckett took that wrist in her hands, smoothing the skin beneath her thumbs. "My gift, as a Guardian, is hyperactive senses, Doctor. That gift often allows me to see things that the others can't..." She gasped at what her vision revealed to be going on beneath her fingers. "Like the possibility you might be one of us."

Henry's eyes went wide at the suggestion. "How could you possibly know that from looking at my wrists..."

Beckett ignored the question. "There's just one more test we need to run to be sure..." She turned to Esposito and Castle. "We need Lanie."

Lanie appeared a moment after Beckett voiced her request. "You guys need me for something?"

"I need to know if Doctor Morgan here has the gene," replied Beckett.

"You think he might be a potential?" asked Lanie.

Beckett shook her head. "I think he might have flipped," she explained. "235 years ago."

Henry and Lanie both drew in a sharp intake of breath. "What do you need from me?" he asked Lanie, the growing excitement clearly evident in his voice.

"I'm a psychic healer, Doctor Morgan," Lanie replied. "All I need is your hand."

Henry offered Lanie the same hand that he had previously offered Beckett. "Since my first death I've been searching for an explanation for my 'condition'," he told the group. "And you're telling me that after two centuries of searching, _you _finally have that answer for me?"

Lanie and Ryan's eyes flew open simultaneously as Lanie came out of her healer's trance. "We do," Lanie replied. "You were right on, Beckett. The gene's flipped. He's one of us."

"How?!" asked Henry.

"Our abilities are based in a one in a billion dormant gene," Lanie explained. "This gene is only activated in the presence of massive amounts of energy..."

"Such as is often present in a thunderstorm," added Henry, slowly coming to understanding.

Beckett nodded. "I suspect that the storm was, indeed, destined to flip you, Doctor Morgan..."

"Please," Henry interrupted Beckett, "call me Henry."

"All right," Beckett agreed. "Henry, I believe the storm was destined to be the point that your gene became active. However, you were murdered at the point that you should have 'flipped', as we call it. So since that energy was needed to keep you alive..."

"It's been keeping me alive ever since," said Henry, stunned to finally have an answer that made some twisted level of scientific sense.

Beckett turned to Katya. "I'm kinda surprised you didn't see it."

Katya's brow furrowed in confusion. "What should I have seen, Mistress?"

"You read auras, Katya," Beckett replied. "You tell me."

Katya's eyes narrowed to the finest of slits, then widened as she saw what Beckett had seen earlier. _"Sukin syn!"_ she exclaimed, evidently meaning the words as a self-inflicted curse. "We should _never _have split up at the bus terminal, Henry! Please, I _must_ ask for your forgiveness..."

"For what?" asked Abe.

"The being we were hunting feeds on chi," Katya explained. "_Please_ forgive me, Henry. If I had known..."

Henry was growing more confused by the second. "What on Earth is she talking about?"

"May I?" Ryan volunteered. Katya backed away, allowing Ryan to stand next to Beckett. "I am a telepath, Henry. I think you might have a better idea of the problem if you see what my partner sees when she looks at your aura."

"Aura?" asked Henry.

"Our abilities are fueled by what Asian cultures consider to be the chi," Beckett explained. "And since that chi is so much stronger than that of the average person, I see some of that residual overflow as an aura."

Henry turned to Ryan. "And you can help me see this aura?"

Ryan nodded. "Close your eyes." When Henry complied with his instruction, the Guardian made the connection between Henry's mind and Beckett's. "What do you see?"

"I see...myself," Henry replied. "This is quite surreal."

Beckett took over guiding Henry from that point. "May I see your wrist again, Henry?"

Henry held out his wrist and gasped almost immediately at what he saw. "Is that...is that my aura?" he asked Beckett.

Beckett nodded, even though Henry couldn't see it. "Each of our auras is different because of the differences in our abilities. Since your gift is...resurrection, for lack of a better way of putting it, your aura is literally coursing through your veins."

"I am so, so sorry, Henry," Katya repeated, clearly moping. "If I had recognized your aura, I would never left you alone while we were on the hunt for the Jiangshi. I only hope that you can forgive me..."

"Why would you have seen it?" asked Henry.

"I read auras, as well," Katya explained. "I did not notice the strength of your aura before, but now that I see it, its power is unmistakable. I left you, I believe the expression goes, as a sitting duck..."

Ryan picked up on the one unfamiliar name within Katya and Henry's conversation. "What's a Jiangshi?"

"A Jiangshi is a Mage-conjured being that has characteristics similar to a vampyr and what you would call a zombie," explained Katya.

Hanson rolled his eyes. "There's no such thing as vamp..." When Katya gave Hanson an unnerving, fang-bearing grin, Hanson's voice was choked off as he found himself having to clear the nervous lump that had just formed in his throat. "Continue," he finally squeaked out.

Having made her point, Katya quickly continued her narrative. "As I mentioned earlier, the Jiangshi feeds on chi. Which means that you need to be extra careful, honored ones, since being caught alone with the beast means almost certain death."

"A fact I learned from experience," Henry muttered.

"So that...hopping...thing that you were following, Henry," asked Jo, "that was a Jiangshi?" Henry nodded, so Jo went to the question that she least wanted to ask. "And it...it killed you?"

"Yes," Henry replied simply.

Castle, for his part, was caught on one part of Katya's description of the Jiangshi. "You said the Jiangshi is a Mage-created being?"

"Yes, Master Sìfāng," agreed Katya.

"So wouldn't that mean that another Mage could find a way to track it?" Castle argued. "Some sort of locator or tracking spell?"

"That would make sense," Jo agreed, "if we just happened to have another Mage on hand..." When Castle glared at her, Jo quickly put two and two together. "You? You're a Mage?"

Castle smiled slyly. "How do you think you guys got here? The _Enterprise _transporter?"

Jo winced at the teasing. "My partner and I really need to shut up now, don't we?"

"Might work in your favor in the long run," suggested Castle. Taking her own advice, Jo nodded.

"It would make sense for all of us to consolidate our efforts," Henry suggested to the group.

"I had the exact same idea...but then you had to go and steal eighteen bodies right out from under my nose."

A flood of decidedly mixed emotions his Henry as he turned to face the two men joining the conversation. "Doctor Perlmutter? I thought you said that you were with Homeland Security?"

"We are," said the other man. "Although technically calling us 'affiliated' with Homeland Security might be more appropriate."

The sound of the other man's voice caused Katya to blush furiously...as much as a vampire was capable of blushing. "Henry, friends," Katya announced, "I would like to introduce you to my husband, Network Director Mark Fallon."

Abe's eyes widened. "_This _is your husband, Katya?" When Katya shyly nodded, Abe turned to Fallon. "You've got yourself a handful there, Director."

"Don't I know it," Fallon agreed, his eyes sparkling with mischief.

"I warned you that you had no idea about the dangerous forces you were toying with," Perlmutter chided Henry. "I hope that you now understand that I knew exactly what I was talking about."

Henry smile glowed in a way that the other Guardians all seemed to enjoy. "Believe me, Doctor Perlmutter...this whole experience had been more educational than I could have possibly imagined."

#

**A/N: **_I hope you guys liked this one. I know it was my usual long winded reveal exposition, so thanks for hanging in there. Hopefully from here on I can balance things a little more between case/action and character developement, especially Jo, Henry and Katya. As always, comments are welcome and greatly, greatly appreciated!_


	9. Chapter 9

_**A/N: **__As many Forever fans have noted, Detective Hanson's first name has not been given on the show. So for the practical and creative purposes of this story going forward, I'm naming him Mike (I've seen other people use the name, though, so I could be wrong about that). If they actually name him at some point, I might go back and correct it. _

_Anyway, back to our show..._

_#_

It always surprised Jo how much noise the city could generate. She looked at the clock, groaning when she saw the red numbers reading "9:30". _Most people are at work, aren't they? _thought Jo. _So who's out there?_

She knew she should be sleeping. They had a long night's stakeout ahead, and Lieu was, thankfully, more than willing to let her go home to rest. But every time her head hit the pillow...When the phone rang, Jo found she was actually grateful to see the name come up on the caller ID. "Hey," she greeted the caller on the other end of the line. "Can't sleep either, huh?"

"God, no," Hanson replied. "After last night?"

"I hear ya," agreed Jo.

"I don't know what's harder to swallow: that vampires are real, that the _Guardians _are real, or that Morgan's 235 years old and can't die."

Jo sat up in bed, recognizing that sleep wasn't going to be coming any time soon. "Don't forget the dragons," she added.

"Oh God," Hanson groaned. "That's right, your friends..."

Jo smiled. "Nice to see someone's trying to keep a level head in all this."

"Level? Hell, I'd just be happy to feel like I had a clue which end was up right now."

Jo closed her eyes, pinching the bridge of her nose. "All I see every time I close my eyes is Henry dying in front of me."

The silence at the other end of the line told told Jo that Hanson was letting that comment sink in. "Jesus, Jo. I didn't realize."

"When Sean died I didn't _see _it, you know? I just got this phone call and he was gone. But with Henry...I watched that...that *thing* choke the life out of him. No matter what I try I just can't seem to shake that image out of my head."

"But it didn't, you know?" Hanson countered. "He's still alive."

Jo sighed. "Yeah, I know. Still trying to wrap my head around _that, _too."

"I hear ya," Hanson agreed. The silence that fell between them seemed to be a testament as to how complicated their lives had become.

The ring of Jo's doorbell pierced that silence. "Who in the world could that be at this time of day?" she asked.

Jo wrapped her robe around her, holding the phone as she answered the door...and found Henry blushing on the other side. "I...I hope I didn't wake you," he said as a half-hearted attempt at a greeting.

"I gotta go, Mike," Jo told Hanson as he waited on the other end of the line. "Try to get some rest, okay? I'll see you tonight." She hung up the phone and stepped away from the door, allowing Henry entrance. "Well lucky for you," she told Henry, "I couldn't sleep either."

"I have brought coffee," Henry volunteered. "I assumed that if you were still awake you might require some extra assistance."

Jo wanted to protest, but the aroma coming from the cups silenced half of her arguments...and a few sips of the beverage silenced the other half. "Mmmm...this might be the best cup of coffee I've ever had. Where did you get it?"

Henry's blush deepened. "The coffee is a special blend that I have imported from Hawaii. I hope that you don't mind that I made it myself instead of buying your coffee from Starbucks."

Jo sipped her cup of coffee, using the gesture to let Henry's explanation and its implications sink in. "I guess two hundred years of savings would give you more petty cash than the average medical examiner."

"Well," Henry admitted, "It's not something that I usually talk about."

"One thing of many, I suppose," Jo agreed.

Henry nodded briefly, giving Jo her space as he sat in an easy chair and Jo took a seat on the couch, much further than arm's length away. "It has been a night full of surprises."

"That is has," said Jo.

"You looked quite overwhelmed when we left the warehouse." Henry's voice was full of sympathy and concern, "I came by to see how you were doing."

Jo looked up to the sky as if to look to heaven itself for support. "How'm I doing," she repeated. "I had my partner die in front of my, killed by a zombie vampire who never touched him once, and now that same partner is in my living room, asking me how I'm doing. How do you think I'm doing?"

"I'm here, now," Henry declared. "I promise you, I won't go anywhere unless you tell me to leave. And I'll answer any question you have."

Jo sipped her coffee as she considered Henry's offer. "Any question? No more secrets?"

"None," Henry agreed.

Curiosity won over Jo's need for caffeine, and she set down her coffee on the coffee table. "All right, then. Let's start with an easy one. Abraham. Who is he to you, _really?"_

Henry put his coffee down on the end of the table closest to him. "Abraham is my son. Abigail and I found him as a baby, and we raised him as our own."

"Found him?" Jo asked, raising a wary eyebrow. "You didn't 'find him' in a cornfield in Kansas, did you?"

Baffled by the unfamiliar pop culture reference, Henry answered the question honestly. "We were part of the team that liberated Auschwitz and treated the survivors."

Jo's eyes widened. "Wow," she exclaimed, stunned into silence. "Abe was in Auschwitz as an _infant?"_

Henry nodded. "We suspected that his parents were taken to the camp while his mother was pregnant. I am fairly certain he was in the camp itself less than six months."

"And Abigail?" asked Jo. "I think this is the first time I've heard you talk about exactly 'when' you knew her."

"I met Abigail during the war," Henry explained.

"World War Two?" asked Jo.

Henry nodded again. "We had twenty-five years together before she passed."

"Twenty-five years," Jo repeated. She was finding it difficult to get her sleep-deprived brain to do the math. "That would mean..."

"Abigail passed away in 1968," Henry finally admitted.

Jo's eyes widened again. "You lost your wife forty seven years ago?! And there's been no one since then?"

Henry shook his head. "A few flirtations, but nothing serious."

"You mean you haven't..."

Henry instantly understood the unspoken question. "No. Not since Abigail."

"Wow," Jo mouthed silently. She picked up her coffee to give her hands something to do. "What about Nora? Your first wife?"

"Nora and I were married when I first died," replied Henry.

Jo nearly choked on her coffee. "That was _two hundred _years ago," she exclaimed.

"Yes, I am aware of the passage of time," Henry insisted, rolling his eyes.

"Are you?" Jo countered. "From everything you've told me Nora and Abigail have been the only two serious relationships in your life."

"That would be correct," Henry agreed.

"In _two hundred years," _Jo insisted. "You've only had two serious relationships _in two hundred years. _How?!"

Henry sipped his own coffee before responding to Jo's question. "Well, the fact that Nora had me committed to a mental institution might have had something to do with it."

That tempered Jo's shock greatly. "Yeah, I can see how it would."

Henry tested the waters by moving from the chair to the opposite end of the couch. When Jo didn't object, Henry continued his story. "After I died the first time, when I came back all I could think about was getting back to her. She had been told that I died."

"Which you _had," _Jo argued.

Henry nodded. "She asked me what had happened. I tried to explain, but I was still trying to piece together what had occurred for myself. So when I started talking to her about getting shot in the chest and rising from the dead..."

Jo caught on quickly. "Nora automatically assumed that you were crazy."

"And it's not like she would have let me kill myself to prove it to her," Henry agreed. His face fell as his memories wandered back to that dark time in his life. "I loved Nora, very much. So when she refused to believe what had happened to me, and then she had me imprisoned in that awful place...well, I hope you can see how it might make me a bit skittish about letting people know about the secret of my...condition."

"Did Abigail know?" asked Jo.

"She did," Henry replied as he put the empty coffee cup back down on the table. The smile on Henry's face was wistful, and spoke of a lifetime's worth of happy memories. "Abigail was an extraordinary woman."

Jo swallowed the last of her coffee, trying to put herself in the shoes of both Nora and Abigail. The lull in the conversation brought the nagging memory of Henry's most recent death back to the front of her mind. "How many times have you...?"

"Have I died?" Henry completed the unspoken question. "I've lost count, to be honest." He took a book out of the pocket of his suit coat and pushed it across the coffee table. "When I was first working to try and understand my...condition, I started to write down everything I remembered about the events of my deaths and what happened to me when I came back."

Jo put down her coffee cup and flipped through the journal. Her eyes widened as she started to keep a running count of how many 'deaths' Henry had written down. "How many of these journals do you have?"

"Two dozen, maybe more," Henry replied, trying to make the number sound casual.

However sleep-deprived Jo might have been, the implication connected to the existence of so many journals wasn't lost on her. "You must have died _hundreds _of times..."

"I suppose," Henry agreed with a shrug.

"So...what happened last night..."

Henry's face fell. "It wasn't particularly painful, as deaths go," he explained, clearly reliving the event as he described it. "And it was definitely a new experience for me."

"Oh," Jo teased, "so you've never been killed by a half-zombie half-vampire before."

"No," Henry agreed. He graciously accepted the teasing as a sign that he was making progress. "Last night was a night of many firsts for me."

"For me, too," said Jo. The pair fell into a more companionable silence before Jo came up with her last, lingering question. "Why hasn't there been anyone since Abigail?"

Henry suddenly seemed to find his hands endlessly fascinating. "I'm not really completely sure, to be honest. I mourned for Abigail, to be sure, and of course I had to raise Abraham...but after a while I just...I suppose I just stopped thinking of a bigger picture. I was so consumed by the idea of living 'one day at a time' that, after a time, that was all I was doing. I stopped living and just focused on survival. Time became a blur after that, until..."

If anyone asked, Jo knew she could blame the butterflies on sleep deprivation and drinking coffee on an empty stomach. Still...she knew she couldn't live with herself if she didn't ask the question. "Until?"

Henry tucked a stray lock of hair behind Jo's ear. "Until I met you, 'Detective'." He drew in a fluttering, deep breath and let it out slowly. "Working with you...using everything that my 'condition' has taught me over time...Abigail used to say that I was given this 'gift' for a reason. Since I met you, I've started to wonder if what we do together _is _that reason."

The atmosphere in the room suddenly started to feel electric. To Jo, it was starting to feel like Henry was the only person in the world...the only one that mattered, at any rate. She scooted closer to Henry, leaned in toward him...

And yawned from the very depths of her soul.

Henry chuckled, beaming as Jo covered her mouth. "Forgive me," he told her. "We were having such a lovely conversation I completely forgot about how exhausted you must be." He started gathering up his coat and scarf. "I should get going, allow you to get your rest for tonight..."

"No," Jo jumped, almost instinctively. "Would you mind...would you mind staying, at least for a little while? I just...I don't really want to be alone. At least, not yet."

Henry's smile grew wistful, full of an affectionate desire to protect and care for the woman who had grown to mean so much to him. "Jo, I can promise you one thing," he assured her. "Whenever you need me, I will be here."


	10. Chapter 10

'They' say the first year of marriage is the hardest. The expression is based in the idea of combining two previously separate, independent lives into a unified family. The very idea of unifying two things that were once separate almost invites challenge on its own: the bureaucracy, the culling down of assets and possessions...

The fighting...

"How could you do that?!" exclaimed Fallon. "You deliberately put civilians in harm's way..."

"For the hundredth time," Katya countered, "I had no idea that Detective Martinez was following us."

"She's not who I'm talking about and you know it!" Fallon paced the length of their small bedroom, if only to blow off some excess energy. "You know, you're damned lucky that Morgan's gift is immortality, or else we'd be adding him to the list..."

Katya rolled her eyes. "How many times do I have to apologize for that?! I thought I caught the Jiangshi's scent and so I went after it. It was _Doctor Morgan's _idea for us to split up so we could leave no stone unturned..."

"You should have come to me," Fallon insisted. "When Michel came to you you should have come to us and let the Guardians handle it..."

Katya looked about ready to explode. "I have been hunting down demons long before your grandfather was an itch in _his _father's pants, and I will be hunting down demons long after you..."

"ENOUGH!"

Fallon and Katya stopped their argument long enough to glare at the one man who had the nerve to interrupt them. "This is none of your business, Guardian," growled Fallon.

"It is when your assistant is a telepath, Phoenix," insisted Ryan. "Ever since the two of you started this little shouting match Claire has had a migraine that even Lanie can't cure. I can only assume the cause of said migraine is all of your secondhand crap-slinging. So _talk_. What the hell is up with you two today?"

Katya took the opportunity to get her side of the story out first. "My 'husband' seems to have decided that since our marriage, I am no longer qualified to hunt on my own..."

"That's not what I said!" argued Fallon. He sighed, drinking in the peace that Ryan was pouring in the room to get the couple to calm down. "Look, we know that the blessing gave you the ability to live in the daylight. What we _don't _know is if you got that blessing on top of immortality or instead of it. So the idea of you taking on a dangerous hunt like this on your own..."

"But I wasn't on my own, Mark!" Katya protested. "I had Michel, and Henry and his team..."

Fallon was unconvinced by his wife's argument. "They're mortals!" he insisted. "And Michel wasn't at Port Authority. Where was he, by the way?"

"At the antique shop that Henry's son owns," Katya explained, automatically answering her husband's question. "He decided he wanted to help Lucas with the autopsies on the victims..." Katya glared at Ryan, who shamelessly smirked back at her. She sighed, allowing Ryan's mental and emotional prompting to dissipate her frustration. Katya then turned her attention back toward her husband. "I understand that you were worried about me. And I appreciate it. But I am _still _vampyr, and still the same being who helped you put this Network together in the first place. I can handle myself."

"I know," Fallon relented. "I understand how powerful you are. How truly _unique _you are. It's just..." His voice trailed off as his heart sought to reconnect with the being he cared so deeply for. "I have such a long life ahead of me. I don't know what I would do if you're not by my side to experience _all_ of it."

"I _will _be there," Katya reassured her husband. "Always." She twisted in her husband's embrace, turning to the Guardian who helped their argument to end before it caused permanent damage...to themselves or to anyone else. "Thank you, honored one."

Ryan nodded, accepting the couple's words of gratitude. "Speaking of Henry's place...Kat, Castle's going to bring us to the antique shop so everyone can get a good look at the bodies. You coming?"

Katya turned to Fallon, who nodded in the direction of the door. "Go. Just...be careful, okay?" asked Fallon. Katya smiled, kissed her husband, and ran off to take her place with the Guardians.

#

Lucas was the one to greet Henry as he descended the stairs. "Doc, I can't believe how many of the myths about vampires are just flat-out wrong," he exclaimed. "I've been trying to talk Michel into writing a book for the last _hour, _but so far he's refused to budge."

"Careful, Lucas," Jo warned as she followed Henry down the stairs, "remember how _Interview With the Vampire_ turned out."

Lucas jumped out of his seat like he was sitting on a spring. "Detective Martinez!" he greeted Jo nervously. His attention turned on a dime, though, when he realized exactly how Jo had greeted him. "Wait, doc...she knows about Michel?"

Henry seemed more relaxed than Lucas had ever seen him. "She knows _everything_, Lucas," he replied, beaming with renewed energy and confidence.

"Uh...okay," Lucas agreed, forcing himself to simply go with the flow. "So she's going to help us hunt the Jiangshi now? What about Katya?"

"Katya will be joining us in a moment," replied Henry. "Originally, she was going to come back with the rest of the team, but we agreed as a group that this lab was simply too small to do the job."

"Not that I don't agree with you, Doc," countered Lucas, clearly confused, "but who's this team you guys are talking about? What about Homeland Security? And if we're not staying here, then where are we going?"

Jo and Henry looked at each other and smiled knowingly. "Lucas," Henry explained, "I can promise you all three of your questions will be answered in approximately one minute."

Lucas was about to ask another question...until the instant appearance of one of Lucas' favorite authors nearly caused the younger man to jump out of his own skin. "W-w-w-w-wh...what is Richard Castle doing here? I...I'm not hallucinating or something, am I? You can see him?"

Henry frowned, turning to Castle to clear up his confusion. "You two know each other?"

Castle shook his head. "I've...written a few books," he replied.

Michel, for his part, had a reaction to Castle's presence that caught Lucas off-guard. "Honored Sìfāng," he greeted Castle with a deep, respectful bow. "How may I serve?"

"Sìfāng?" Lucas asked Michel. "What's that? And why did you just call Richard Castle by that name?"

Castle ignored Lucas. "We are, apparently, going after the same being," he told Michel.

Lucas' eyes went wide. "We? Who's we?"

"So we're going to move this party back to the warehouse," Castle added, continuing to ignore Lucas. "Care to join us?"

"Feral horses could not remove me from this fight," Michel replied, causing both Lucas and Castle to fight off a fit of giggles. The laughter confused Michel, but he forced himself to set that confusion aside. "Lead the way, Master Sìfāng."

Lucas' focus rapidly flipped between Henry and Castle as his confusion grew exponentially. "There's that name again," he exclaimed. Lucas breathed on the back of his hand and brought his hand to his nose to sniff-test the results. "I'm not stoned...I'M not...I don't think..."

Castle turned to Henry. "Is your friend coming with us?"

Henry nodded. "Lucas can be...surprisingly helpful at times."

Castle smiled, recalling a time when that seemed to be his team's consensus opinion of him. "All right, then," he agreed.

The basement emptied a second later as the people, bodies and all things related to the case disappeared in the blink of an eye.


	11. Chapter 11

The instant change in Lucas' surrounding caused a thousand pieces to snap into place at once. "The _Guardians?!" _he exclaimed. "The Guardians are real?!"

"They are," Henry replied with a smile.

Lucas turned around in a slow circle, gawking at the sparse contradictions of the warehouse that now surrounded him. "Richard Castle is a Guardian..."

"He is," Jo agreed, nodding.

"And we're working with them, now? _The Guardians_ are that team you mentioned back at your house?"

Henry nodded. "Is that a problem?"

Lucas shook his head as if trying to get the question out of his ears before it had a chance to sink in. "Problem?! God, no. I don't have a problem working with a bunch of superheroes. Hell, no!"

Jo and Henry shared a moment of unspoken communication. _If he only knew, _thought Jo.

For someone who had his entire life turned upside down in the blink of an eye, Lucas was adapting to his new reality with surprising speed. "So where's Michel? And the victims?"

"Right this way, Mr. Wahl," Castle directed with a gentle nod.

The group strode quickly down the hallway, barely giving Lucas a chance to peek in windows as they went. "This is more..."

"More what, Lucas?" asked Henry.

Lucas rolled his words around before giving voice to what was going through his mind. "This place feels more...organized...than I figured a superhero's hideout might be. Unless, of course, you're, like, Bruce Wayne rich and keeping it super well-hidden..." Lucas froze when he recognized the man who was examining his case's victims in the brand-new lab he had just entered. "Doctor Perlmutter?!" He turned to Castle. "You guys are _Feds?!"_

"Technically," Castle replied. He scanned the room and instantly recognized the focused look of intense concentration on the face of his fiancée. "Kate, what have you found?"

Beckett was fascinated by the fragile, loose skin underneath the breasts of one of the victims. "I don't think these are just runaways," she declared.

The statement instantly got the group's collective attention. "How can you tell?" asked Lucas.

"Oh God, here we go," Hanson muttered under his breath.

Beckett let the corners of her mouth turn up for a split second before returning her focus back to the case. "I noticed something as Grumpy was examining one of the girls..."

Lucas turned to Henry. "Grumpy?" he whispered.

Perlmutter stared the two men down, daring either of them to challenge the moniker. Beckett, however, ignored the standoff completely. "Come here and take a look at this." She carefully shifted the body's skin and remaining tissue until the skin closest to the chest was smooth and visible. "At first when I saw this I thought it was just a birthmark. When I took a closer look, though, I noticed multiple lines."

Castle nodded in agreement, even though his eyes were closed. "And you found the same mark on the other victims?"

"This is the fifth one I've checked," Beckett agreed.

Ryan, Henry and the cops joined the group crowding around the body. "What are we looking at?" asked Lucas.

Henry noticed the mark immediately. "My God..." he whispered.

"You see what they're looking at?" asked Jo.

Henry nodded. "It's so small that I doubt I would not have seen it had it not been pointed out to me, but now..."

"I'm still lost," Hanson insisted. "What are we looking at?"

Jo's expression was grim. "You never worked vice, did you, Mike?" When Hanson shook his head, Jo explained, "If we're looking at what I _think _we're looking at, then the Jiangshi didn't grab these girls off the street. They were trafficked first."

"Trafficked?" asked Abe.

Jo nodded. "These girls were abducted, herded into an underground brothel, and branded. This is the smallest brand I've ever seen, though."

"It was a much larger mark when the girl was alive, I suspect," Henry added. "The severe dehydration greatly shrank and discolored the brand to the point where we didn't notice it initially. In fact," his eyes locked with Beckett's as his face shifted to an expression of awe, gratitude and deep respect. "I may never have noticed the mark if it hadn't been pointed out to me."

"Can we be sure these girls were sex slaves?" asked Hanson, eyes wide.

"We'll need to go back and check for signs of sexual abuse," Perlmutter replied. His mind started to almost audibly whirl as the calculations began. "With the number of doctors and MEs in this room, it should take..."

Henry was making similar calculations in his mind. "An hour," he suggested, "depending on the testing equipment you have available to you..." The change in Perlmutter's expression worried Henry. "You don't have the proper testing equipment, do you?"

"It's something of a startup around here," Perlmutter explained. "We're on a tight budget. Long story."

Henry sighed wearily. "It might take us considerably longer than an hour, then. We're dealing with an extensive quantity of trace evidence, here."

"What about bringing the bodies back to our lab?" asked Lucas. "Now that we're working with Dr. Perlmutter and not running away from him?"

Henry shook his head. "It would arouse too much suspicion. Unfortunately, I believe that much of the delay will be in travel between the lab and...wherever this warehouse is."

"I could help with that," Castle volunteered. "I could make the travel instantaneous."

"Nuh uh," argued Lanie, shaking her head. "I wouldn't wish your lack of patience on my worst enemy. If you have to wait around for test results when the only thing you can do is just sit there..."

"Honey...the last thing we need," Beckett added, agreeing with her friend, "is to get delayed by repeatedly having to fish Henry out of the East River." _Besides, _Beckett projected through her link to her fiancé, _we might also be able to take care of that...other thing..._

Lucas frowned in confusion even as Castle perked up with excitement. "Why would we need to plan around fishing doc out of the East River?" asked Lucas.

"What about me?" asked Alexis.

"Saved by the bell," muttered Abe.

The group turned around to face the new person entering the conversation. "Doctor Henry Morgan," Castle introduced the redhead standing in the doorway, "I'd like you to meet my daughter, Alexis."

"Your daughter?" asked Henry, eyebrows raised. "Does that mean that she...?"

"Is a chip off the old block," Castle explained.

The implications of the expression caught Jo and Hanson by surprise. "Really?" asked Jo. "You mean she...?"

Alexis let the answer to Jo's question remain unspoken. "Doctor...Morgan?" she asked, slowly recalling the name. "Doctor *Henry* Morgan?"

Henry was surprised by Alexis' recognition of his name...until a flash of the girl's red hair jogged his own memory. "Have we met before?"

Alexis shook her head. "Only in passing, maybe. I interned with Doctor Parish and Doctor Perlmutter a few years ago. I got an earful of Doctor Perlmutter's displeasure with your last meeting shortly after the two of you talked. _That's _how I recognized your name."

"You were an intern?" asked Lucas.

Alexis nodded. "So not only do I know where to go, I can bring you back and forth and help with the tests...instead of driving you crazy."

"Then we'll split up," Henry declared. "I'll shuttle back and forth to the lab with Ms. Castle. Lucas, would you mind staying behind with Drs. Perlmutter and Parish and helping them with the autopsies?"

"No problem, doc," agreed Henry. He turned to his new friend. "Michel, care to pitch in?"

_"Bien sûr, mon ami,_" Michel replied.

The matter settled, Henry started to head to the door to join Alexis. Jo and Hanson turned to Castle. "Can you get us back to our precinct?" asked Jo. "I still have some contacts in vice. Maybe they'll recognize the brand."

"Of course," agreed Castle. "Which precinct?"

"The 11th," Hanson replied.

Beckett and Castle turned to each other. _Coincidence? _asked Beckett

_Is anything with us? _Castle argued through their mind-link. Setting aside their questions for the moment, the Guardian turned his attention back to the two cops. "You guys ready to go?" When Jo and Hanson nodded, the two teams disappeared.

"We're going to hit the bullpen, too," Esposito announced to the doctors and their assistants. "See if we can find anything about trafficking rings operating in the area." He then crossed the room to kiss his fiancée. "Catch you later, chica."

"Have fun," Lanie added with a smile.

Lucas turned to Michel. "Are they...?"

"Husband and wife," Michel replied.

"Ah," Lucas agreed silently before turning his attention fully to the folder front of him.

"Coming, Kat?" asked Ryan. "We could use your help to see if any of these guys have ties to the vampire community."

Katya's attention was more focused on the room's odd man out than it was on the current status of the case. "I will catch up to you later, honored ones," she told Ryan. "How would you like the grand tour, Abraham?"

Abe was surprised by suddenly becoming the focus of vampire's attention. "You sure, Katya? Don't they need you on the case?"

"A problem easily solved," Katya replied. She turned to Esposito, firmly clasping the Guardian's hand. The Xiānzhī updated his copies of Katya's memories and smiled at the most recent one. "Go," Esposito told Katya. "I think it's a great idea."

Abe frowned as he watched the interaction between the Guardian and his vampire friend. "Okay...I must be missing something," Abe declared. "Do they need you or no?"

"Master Xiānzhī has everything he needs," replied Katya. "I will explain as we go."

"In that case," Abe agreed with a shrug before offering his arm to the younger-looking being, "lead on."


	12. Chapter 12

"Well, I must say," Abe declared, "I am impressed. You guys have one hell of a setup here, Katya."

Katya held open the door to the library. "Being around the Guardians changes beings," she agreed. "It inspires one to be a better version of themselves and to encourage others to do the same. We created this place to give beings the opportunity to act on that inspiration."

Abe walked through the door and quickly discovered that not only were they not alone, but that the woman who was in the library with them was a very familiar face. "Martha Rodgers?!" Abe exclaimed, eyes wide and star struck. "Is that really you?"

Martha frowned, trying and failing to place Abe's face and voice to a name that she remembered. "I'm so sorry," she finally apologized. "Do I know you?"

"Only as a face in the crowd of your loving admirers," Abe replied, kissing Martha's hand with gentle chivalry. "Abraham Morgan, at your service."

Martha blushed and giggled. "Well, it is always a pleasure to meet a fan, Mister Morgan," she declared with a smile. Her eyes widened just slightly as she realized that she did, indeed, recognize at least part of the name of the man in front of her. "Are you related to a Doctor Henry Morgan, by any chance?"

Abe's defenses shot up quickly. "The name sounds familiar. Where did you hear it from?" he asked, trying to make the question sound as glib and casual as he could.

Martha recognized the dance immediately. "My granddaughter is one of the founding members of this little group," she replied. "So I...may have heard the name in passing once or twice."

"Once or twice, huh?" Abe asked skeptically. He fingered a lock of Martha's hair as the color recalled a younger woman that he had met moments earlier. The connection he made felt instant and obvious. "That granddaughter wouldn't be Alexis Castle, by any chance, would she?"

Martha's face fell, just slightly. "She is," Martha admitted.

"Which means your son is one of the Guardians," added Abe.

Abe's comment wiped every bit of a casual expression from Martha's face. She sighed and returned the book she was holding to the nearest shelf. "He is," Martha agreed.

"I believe it is time for me to leave you two alone," Katya declared before making a hasty exit out of the library.

Abe, for his part, was having trouble figuring out how he offended Martha. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "I thought he and his team ran this place?"

"They do," Martha replied.

"So what did I say?" asked Abe.

Martha moved as close to Abe as she dared. "Privacy is one of the tenets upon which this place was founded. Every member of the Network has a code name, and _that _is the name most commonly used within these walls. Very few people have called me by my real name here. Even fewer know of my connection to Master Sìfāng or Crusher. And those who do know...well, we don't talk about it in common spaces."

"Why all the cloak and dagger?"

Martha closed and locked both of the doors to the library before returning to answer Abe's question. "Before you arrived at the warehouse, how familiar were you with the Guardians?"

"Not very," Abe replied with a shrug. "I've heard rumors, but not much more. Urban legend type stuff."

"That's by design, darling," Martha explained. "At first, it was primarily to protect the Guardians themselves. Think about it: if the Guardians were proven to be real, or if, God forbid, their identities were made public, what do you think would happen to them?"

Abe recognized the problem immediately. "They'd be mobbed at best..."

"And abducted...or dissected...by the military at worst," Martha agreed, swallowing hard as she gave voice to her only constant, nagging fear. "And the good they were given these powers to do..."

"They'd never be able to do it," agreed Abe. "Okay, okay. So protecting them, I get. But why make _everyone_ use a code name?"

The corners of Martha's mouth turned up briefly in a nostalgic smile. "That part has never been much of a hard and fast rule, if I'm being perfectly honest with you."

"It hasn't?" asked Abe.

Martha shook her head. "It's a matter of necessity for the Guardians as well. But after a while a few people decided they wanted to use aliases, as well. Eventually the practice just caught on and became _de rigeur."_

"Why?"

"I heard what Angel told you earlier," Martha explained, careful to use Katya's code name as she encouraged Abe to sit at a table. "About how this whole experience changes a being..." When Abe nodded in recognition, Martha continued, "some of our members felt like they had changed enough that it felt like they were an entirely new person. The code names are a recognition of that change. After all, haven't you ever wanted the chance to just wipe the slate clean and start over?"

"Yeah," he agreed. "I guess..."

Martha quickly picked up on the cloud that had formed over Abe's head. "You do understand. Better than most, unless I miss my guess?" A bolt of panic shot through Abe, which Martha also noticed. "It's all right," she reassured him. "Whatever you did in the past.."

"It wasn't me," Abe insisted. He looked Martha up and down, studying her carefully as he considered his options. _This isn't my secret to tell, is it? Why not? It's not like it hasn't affected me *my* whole life..._

"So this is about Henry, then?" Martha probed. "Something in your son's past..."

"Henry isn't my son," Abe declared, cutting off Martha's second question.

Martha nodded, assuming she knew what Abe was trying to tell her. "I see..."

"Henry is my father," said Abe. "He and his wife adopted me when I was a baby."

Martha sat back in her chair, trying and failing to do the math with the information she had. "How...?"

"Henry is immortal," Abe admitted. "He's 235 years old."

Martha's eyes widened. "Oh," she exclaimed, sitting back in her chair as she processed Abe's confession. "He...he looks great for two hundred and thirty..."

"He hasn't aged in two centuries," said Abe. "Trust me, trying to compare yourself to _that_ is only destined to drive you crazy."

Martha noticed the edge in Abe's last statement. "Is that why you moved around so much growing up?"

Abe nodded. "Every time Henry got suspicious that someone might notice that he wasn't getting any older..."

"Off you went," said Martha, completing Abe's thought. Abe nodded. Martha leaned back in her chair as she tried to get a full picture of the unique story of the man sitting before her. "Do you have any siblings?"

Abe shook his head. "Only child."

"So the only ones who knew about Henry were you..."

"And my mother," agreed Abe.

"Must have been very lonely for you," Martha mused.

Abe nodded again. "Although..."

"What is it?" asked Martha.

"I'm starting to worry about him," Abe admitted. He started to fidget slightly as his thoughts went to an uncomfortable place. "I'm not exactly a spring chicken..."

"Neither am I," Martha sympathized.

Abe leaned forward, suddenly desperate to get his point across. "No, you don't get it! You know that your children are going to outlive you. All parents do..."

"Except for Henry."

Abe sat back and blushed. "It's probably going to sound weird, but I wonder about about it, you know? What'll happen to him..."

"After you're gone?" asked Martha.

"Silly, huh?" Abe countered.

Martha shook her head. "Not at all."

"My mom and I were the first people in centuries that Henry's felt completely able to trust with his secret and his crazy life. Now my mom's gone, and when I'm...he doesn't have anybody who understands, you know? I just...I just don't want to see him go through eternity alone after he loses me."

Martha forced herself to look away from Abe, wishing that she had a drink in her hand or some other object to excuse the diversion of her attention. "Mister Morgan...I wouldn't worry about your father. He's not going to be as alone as you think."


	13. Chapter 13

_**A/N: **__Just a quickie little chapter since I haven't posted in a couple of days. More will be coming soon!_

#

Alexis smiled as she looked around the small, but clean and modern-looking space. "Nice lab you got here."

Henry frowned at the compliment. "Are the facilities for the 12th not comparable to what we have here?"

"Not so much," Alexis replied. "Perlmutter is...more frugal."

Henry understood immediately. "Which is why you don't have the equipment at your new lab..."

"We have a...benefactor," explained Alexis, careful not to divulge the man's identity. "He's promised to get us anything we need, but Doctor Perlmutter seems to have some sort of a problem with him."

"So when it comes to getting the equipment for the lab..."

"We usually end up getting what we needed shortly _after _we needed it," Alexis agreed with a chuckle. "I'm looking forward to helping Lanie pick out the electron microscope we're going to be able to get out of this little adventure." Out of the corner of her eye, Alexis noticed the difference between the stark, sterile environment she was standing in and dark, stately tones of the adjoining office. "Is that your office, Doctor Morgan?" Henry followed the tilt of Alexis' head and nodded, giving her silent permission to satisfy her curiosity, Alexis took the invitation and peeked in the office, running her hands across the bookshelves and the old books that lined them.

Henry, for his part, studied Alexis as she studied his office. "See anything you like?" he asked.

Alexis smiled and blushed at the question. "This room...this room feels so much like you," she told him. She chewed on her lower lip as she gathered her thoughts...

It was a gesture that Henry noticed immediately. "What is it?"

"My dad told me a little about you," Alexis replied. "You've been immortal for _two hundred years?" _Henry nodded as he opened the door for Alexis to return to the lab. "Wow," she chuckled, shaking her head in amazement.

"I know," Henry teased sympathetically. "I have been told I don't look a day over forty."

Alexis sat in front of the nearest microscope, taking a slide when Henry handed it to her. She placed the slide on the stage, but stopped before she could bring herself to look through the lens. "What's it like?"

Henry started the centrifuge before answering Alexis' question with another question. "What's what like?"

Alexis sighed, pushing herself away from the microscope as she gathered her thoughts. "As a kid, American History was one of my favorite subjects," she explained. "And when I read about the Battle of 1812, or the Old West, or the First World War...I always wished I could ask someone from that time what they thought of life _today._"

Henry finally understood what Alexis was trying to ask him. "And now that you have that opportunity..." Alexis nodded eagerly. Henry sighed and pushed away from the lab table where he was making notes on the case. He twirled the pen through his fingers, carefully considering his answer to Alexis' question. "It was a more polite society back then. People were much more considerate of each other 'in my day', for the most part. And courting was a _completely_ different experience."

"It was?" asked Alexis.

"People's motivations haven't changed," Henry replied. "We were just more careful to defend against them..."

"Instead of giving in to them," said Alexis.

Henry nodded in agreement, and took a moment in silence before continuing. "And I do believe that people spend far too much time connecting to some infernal screen instead of building relationships with each other like we once did. It's ironic, really..."

"Ironic?" Alexis asked, her curiosity sparked by the word.

"Well, the worst part of immortality is the loneliness," Henry explained. "I've seen everyone I've ever cared about grow old and die. For _centuries. _And I've always been the one left behind. I once believed that I could live with the loneliness. Even enjoy it, in some ways. But now..."

Alexis smiled in a way that Henry could only describe as enigmatic. "Henry, I don't think you're nearly as alone as you think you are." When she turned her chair back and looked through the microscope's most powerful lens, though, Alexis' smile disappeared almost immediately. "This is vaginal tissue?"

Henry nodded. "Yes, why do you ask?"

"It looks like someone dragged a rake across a piece of leather," Alexis replied.

Henry soon shared Alexis' frown. "The scarring is significant, even when you take the severe dehydration into consideration. I suspect it would be safe to say that this victim was raped several times over the course of her life." He turned to the centrifuge, drew some of the solution out of the test tube with an eye dropper, then put the slide on the stage of his own microscope. What he saw through the lens stumped him. "Miss Castle," Henry asked politely, "could you take a look at this? I've never seen anything like this before..."

Alexis crossed over to Henry's workstation...and recognized the issue without ever taking a look through the microscope lens. "What do you have there?" she asked.

"I was checking for the presence of drugs in her system," Henry explained. "I had to rehydrate some of her cells to perform the tests. Now, I don't know if the problem is related to that rehydration process..."

Alexis cut off Henry's apology. "What did you find?"

"A cell mutation," Henry replied. "There were traces of Ketamine in her system, but the Ketamine seemed...deformed, somehow..."

"That's because it's not Ketamine," Alexis countered. "At least, it's not 'traditionally' manufactured Ketamine."

Henry's eyes went wide. "How was it produced, then?"

Alexis flexed her fingers. "You guys are hunting a Mage, correct?" Henry nodded. "Your Mage made it. That deformation is a streak of magical energy running through the cells."

"Like a signature on a painting?" asked Henry.

Alexis nodded. "This Mage you're hunting knows enough about the drug to conjure a working supply of it."

"That's not all this means," Henry added. "It also means that our Mage isn't a john. He's a pimp. He's helping to run the operation."

#


	14. Chapter 14

Ryan hung up the phone, leaned back in his chair, and sighed wearily. "I'm beginning to hate that damn telephone," he complained. "In person interviews are so much better."

"Because you can just read their minds and get everything you want to know that way?" Castle argued with a smirk.

"Well, there is that," said Ryan, winking as he agreed. He looked over to the corner where his partner was 'following lines'. "Anything?"

Castle watched Esposito, deep in meditation, before turning to Ryan and shaking his head. "He hasn't moved since we started. What did Polaris say?"

Ryan sighed a second time. "Not much. They're...not exactly the biggest fans of Homeland Security."

"But do they have anything that can help us?" Castle pushed.

Ryan shook his head, "New York's a feeder city for smuggling, apparently."

"Because of the high number of immigrants who pass through?"

Ryan nodded. "And that means there are more black market brothels around here than they can possibly keep track of."

"Even with the Ketamine signature Henry told us about?"

Ryan nodded again. "It's pretty common among traffickers, unfortunately."

"Because of the whole date rape drug thing?"

"They give it to the girls in half doses," Ryan agreed. "It keeps them docile enough that they're more willing to 'perform' on command."

"Doses?"

Ryan turned around to find Katya at the entrance to the bullpen. "Yeah," he explained, "they found ketamine in the remains of one of the victims..." The stunned look on Katya's face emphasized the nagging issue the drug had left in the back of Ryan's own mind. "Katya, can I ask you a question?"

Katya strongly suspected that she knew what the Guardian was going to ask. "Why would a vampire...a vampire Mage, no less...need to use a drug such a ketamine when he could simply control those womens' minds?" When Ryan nodded, Katya explained, "it is because of his addiction."

"I thought human blood fired vampires up?" asked Ryan, clearly confused. "Increased their strength and powers?"

"It does," Katya agreed. "But only to a point. When the thirst becomes an addiction it can start to override that which make the addict a vampyr. Often that starts with higher functions such as the ability to control the minds of their victims."

Castle started to look ill. "Great," he commented with a groan. "A wizard with diminishing mental capacity..."

The buzz of the intercom interrupted the trio's conversation. "Guys," announced Lanie, "I think we found something."

"What is it, Lanie?" asked Ryan.

"Detec...agents," Perlmutter replied, "we found the entry point for the ketamine."

Castle frowned. "It's not an injection?"

"No," said Perlmutter. "It's in what's left of their stomach lining. With the dehydration I can't say for certain whether there are any needle marks, but with the test results we I have I'm inclined to say they were forced to ingest the drug..."

Ryan noticed the hesitation in Perlmutter's voice. "What else did you find, Doc?"

"That wasn't all that was in their stomachs," Perlmutter replied. Ryan heard what he suspected to be a hard swallow before the doctor continued. "There was also a 'biological pathogen of scientifically unknown origin.'"

Castle picked up on Perlmutter's overly careful wording. "'Scientifically' unknown origin?"

"It's vampire blood," Perlmutter finally admitted. "I'm almost certain of it."

Katya's face paled. "He's trying to thrall them. My God, he's trying to thrall them..."

"From what I know of the process," Lanie added, "I'm inclined to agree."

"He's using the ketamine to make up for what he can no longer do on his own," declared Katya.

The lights suddenly blew orange as an alert klaxon blew loud enough to snap Esposito out of his meditation. Ryan took the noise as a signal to open a group connection that included his 'boss'. _What's going on, Fallon?_

_Gates just called in a mass casualty event, _Fallon replied, _3rd Avenue and 9th Street. 6 dead, 12 wounded._

_EMS on the scene? _asked Castle.

_On the perimeter, _Fallon explained. _Gates said the deaths were being attributed to spontaneous combustion. One of the victims burst into flames as she was being loaded into an ambulance._

That was all that Ryan needed to hear. _We're on our way._

The group instantly disappeared.

#

Katya and the five Guardians reappeared on an empty street in front of a row of brownstones. The screams coming from inside were the only indication that all was far from well in the neighborhood. Katya tilted her head and focused in on the sound, isolating out the one noise that, for the first time in days, filled her with renewed hope. _Basement, _she projected to the group, _I suspect the girls down there are freshly turned. Mistress Yīzhì should be able to reverse what has been done to them._

_And the others? _asked Ryan.

Katya shook her head, her expression grim. _Help them rest in peace, _she replied.

The Guardians each nodded, Lanie taking up a position at the rear as Katya took the lead. Castle looked up at the two floors of windows above him...

Every pane of glass exploded, flooding the upper floors with light. Beckett heard a whoosh of erupting flames. The screams intensified briefly, then started to die out slowly as the victims finally succumbed. It wasn't long before all Beckett heard was the crackling of flame...and the faded, constant screams of the women below them. _We're clear, _she told the group. _Only downstairs is left._

_How many? _asked Katya.

_Three, _Beckett replied.

With grim determination, Castle unlocked the door, and the group moved to the basement as a single unit. The women were chained to the wall in the empty room, their screams, wails and moans of pain combining with the clinking of their chains in a cacophony of suffering.

Lanie barreled past her teammates, flying down the stairs until she knelt beside the first victim. Esposito gawked, stunned, as he watched his wife pull out a knife, slice her hand and the hand of the woman writhing in pain at her feet, then clasped the two wounds together.

_Chica?! _Esposito exclaimed into their soul mate-link, unable to speak over the victim's ever-increasing screams. _What the hell are you doing?!_

_Vampire chemo_, Lanie replied. _We did the same thing to Katya once._

Ryan read the minds of his partner, Lanie and the victim and held his partner back. _Let her handle this, _Ryan insisted. _It's working._

Reluctantly, Esposito backed off, only rushing back to his wife's side after she sat back, satisfied and exhausted, next to the third woman. "It's done," she declared. "They're gonna be okay."

"They're cured?" Castle asked, wide-eyed and amazed. "They're not thralls anymore?"

Lanie shook her head. "Completely, 100 percent human. Their bodies are exhausted from fighting off the vampire blood, but they should be completely recovered in a couple of days...at least physically."

"But can I...?" asked Esposito.

Lanie knew exactly what her husband was asking. "Do your thing, baby."

Esposito sat down next to his wife, scooting in close so he could touch the nearest unconscious victim for himself. The briefest brush of his hand across the back of the victim's told Esposito everything he needed to know. He stood up, turning his attention back to Katya as he headed toward the stairs. "I know who our vampire Mage is. And you're not going to like it."

#

**A/N: ** After Barry Ween sent me a message with this question, I realized he might not be then only one who's asking, "Who's Polaris?" Polaris is an incredible real-life organization called the Polaris Project that is on the front lines of the war against human trafficking in the US. From Wikipedia (italics are my additions based on my knowledge of the group):

The organization works directly with victims (_and law enforcement_), hosts tip and crisis hotlines, and offers solutions to those victimized by human trafficking. The organization is one of the largest anti-trafficking organizations in the US, with programs operating at local and national levels through their offices in Washington, D.C. and Newark, N.J. Their approach includes conducting direct outreach and victim identification, providing social services and transitional housing to victims, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHTRC) serving as the central national hotline on human trafficking, advocating for stronger state and federal anti-trafficking legislation, and engaging community members in local and national grassroots efforts.

In a 'real-life' human trafficking case, I could easily see a cop calling vice first and Polaris second.


	15. Chapter 15

"No." Katya was in full denial. "It _cannot_ be him, honored XIānzhī. You must have seen someone else..."

"I know who I saw, Katya!" Esposito insisted. "The line could not _possibly _have been clearer. Look, I know he was your friend when you were first turned..."

Katya's face darkened as Esposito's comment brought bitter memories to the fore. "He was my friend a very, very long time ago. But if you are using my memories as your evidence, then you also know that he ran into the sun as my _defeated_ enemy..."

"Then he must have found a cave, a tunnel, or some other way to escape the sun, but he did not die that day, Katya. He's alive. And he's here in New York."

Everyone else in the room seemed lost as to the subject of the intense argument that Esposito and Katya were having. Beckett spoke up for the group. "Who? Who are we talking about here, guys?"

Katya sighed before turning to catch up the rest of the room. "His name is Raminder Vengalil...or it was, when I knew him. My sire turned both of us within a few years of each other. He _was _my brother."

"_Is_ your brother," Esposito countered. He turned to the group to present his side of the story. "When I copied the first victim I _saw_ him bite her and force his blood down her throat."

"And you are _absolutely _certain that it was him?" Katya demanded.

"How can you be so certain that it isn't?" asked Castle.

Katya turned her gaze away from the group as she lost herself in memories of the ancient past. "I had discovered...evidence...that Raminder had tried to destroy the Guardians...your predecessors. We fought. I had him with my blade to his throat, but...I could not take his head. He was my brother..." The vampire sighed as she strove to push past the mixed emotions she still felt over the incident. "I let him go and he ran off into the sunrise. I _heard _him..." Katya shuddered at the memory. "The sound was unmistakable. It was the suffering screams of a dying vampyr."

Esposito approached Katya slowly, sympathetic to the memories that were running through his own mind at the same time that they were running through Katya's. "I can't imagine having to have to make that call, Katya. If someone I cared about like that betrayed me, I...I don't know what I would do. But the truth is that there's no way you be certain that Raminder died that day, can you?"

Katya sighed again, finally admitting to the truth in Esposito's words. "No, Master Xiānzhī, I cannot."

"My, my," Henry commented, "everyone in here seems so tense..."

The group looked up to see Henry and Alexis standing in the doorway of the bullpen. "Did you guys find anything else?" asked Ryan.

"We did," Henry replied as he led Alexis into the room. He placed a thin NYPD-issued folder on Ryan's desk. "We found trace amounts of two sets of epithelial cells on the victim's cervix."

The room perked up immediately. "DNA?"

Henry shook his head. "No matches in the database."

"Which is no surprise, considering..." Alexis added.

"Considering what?" asked Castle.

Henry opened the file and pointed to the relevant test results. "The test results were...unique, to say the least. To be quite honest, my results are relying greatly upon Alexis' expertise..."

Alexis took over at Henry's hand-off. "From what few cells we had, we were able to determine that the victim's last sexual contact was a male vampire. An _old _male vampire."

"How old?" asked Ryan.

"Older than me," Henry replied.

Alexis did a quick head count and recognized that the people that she most needed to see weren't in the room. "I would feel better if Lanie and Doctor Permutter were able to verify our findings, but my best theory is that our vampire is at least eight hundred years old."

Katya slammed her hand on the desk, loudly and exuberantly announcing her relief. "Do you not see? That means Raminder cannot be the vampire we seek!"

"Because of his age?" asked Ryan.

"Raminder is _gay," _Katya declared insistently. "He chose to be turned rather than be executed for his sexual orientation." When Castle's eyebrows raised in surprise, Katya could only shrug. "Long story."

"You should tell it to me sometime," suggested Castle.

Katya nodded. "Of course, Master Sìfāng."

Esposito ran his hand over his face, clearly wearied by this continuing argument. "This means _nothing _when it comes to Raminder, Katya," he argued. "I still saw him try to Thrall those girls. He's neck-deep in this."

"It is not him," Katya insisted. "It may be a doppelgänger..."

"Doppelgänger?" asked Castle.

"You'd be surprised how true that idea is, Master Sìfāng," Katya replied. "Especially among royalty."

Beckett tried not to let herself get frustrated by how little of this information was actually helping them. "Espo, _whoever_ this being is, do you know where he is now?"

Esposito shook his head. "If I follow the girls' lines I might be able to track him down."

"Do it," Beckett ordered. Esposito nodded and moved to the corner to meditate, so Beckett turned to Katya. "Whether Javi saw your brother or not, there's still the issue of age. Am I right in assuming Raminder is not eight hundred years old?"

Katya nodded. "At most, he would be no more than twenty years older than me."

"Then we might need to look for vampire johns as well as our potential pimp," Beckett mused. "How old does a vampire need to be to be considered an ancient?"

"Depends," Katya shrugged. "It is more of a biological designation than a chronological one..."

Katya rolled her eyes and hit herself in a way that told her husband she was kicking herself. "What is it, Kat?" asked Fallon.

"The hurdle that you have to overcome to be classified as an ancient? Human blood addiction."

Fallon and Beckett seemed to jump into equal levels of leadership action. "Hon," asked Fallon, "can you and Michel reach out to your contacts, see if there are any red market clubs around that we don't know about?" Katya nodded.

Beckett turned to her fellow Guardians. "Reach out to your contacts in vice and missing persons. See if they have any cases that match our m.o., _especially _any cases that have come in in the last 24 hours."

"On it," Ryan replied.

Satisfied with Ryan's assignment, Beckett turned to her fiancé. "Castle, grab Martha and ask her to reach out to her contacts as well."

"On it," Castle replied before disappearing.

Finally, Beckett turned to Henry and Alexis. "After you check in at the lab, there's a test I want you guys to run. It's going to determine exactly where we can use Henry going forward."

Alexis caught on immediately. "Do we have any samples we can use?"

"Get one from Michel," Beckett replied. When Alexis nodded, the pair turned to leave the bullpen...until Beckett stopped them with a warning. "Oh, and Crusher?"

"Yeah?"

"If Henry disappears on you, make a beeline for the East River."

#

An half-hour later, Henry's curiosity was getting the better of him as he sat across from Alexis in the lab while she prepared Michel's 'sample'. "Crusher?"

"Mmmm?" asked Alexis, never looking up from her work.

"What test does Agent Beckett want to do?"

"Anxious?" Alexis asked as she raised a curious eyebrow. "About the whole East River thing?"

Henry shook his head. "More...curious. After all, if I'm about to die I would like to know at least how it is about to occur."

Alexis' eyes widened slightly. "So when you die, you disappear?"

"And resurrect in the nearest body of water," Henry explained. "In this case, the East River."

"Wow," Alexis mouthed as she prepared Henry's arm to take an injection. "That happens every time?"

Henry nodded. "It does. Now, back to my question..." The doctor winced briefly as Alexis pierced Henry's vein with a needle.

"From what Kate told me," Alexis began as she attached a tube to the needle in Henry's arm, "your chi flows through your veins as the source of your immortality."

Henry frowned, still uncomfortable with where Alexis was headed. "It is true that that is the current prevailing theory..."

Alexis drew a small vial of Henry's blood before putting a temporary clamp on the line. "Well," she continued as she drew the blood into an eye dropper, "there is one truly unique thing about a Guardian's blood that makes it unlike any other blood in the world."

"What is that?" Henry asked as she watched Alexis place a drop of his blood on top of Michel's.

Alexis smiled as a thin wisp of smoke floated up from the slide. "A Guardian's blood is lethal to vampyrs. Katya once explained it to Master Mùshī as 'swallowing the sun itself'. Kate wanted to know if your blood does the same thing..."

Henry gasped as a second drop of blood caused the the sample of Michel's blood to burst into flames. "Apparently, it does," Henry concluded.

"Apparently, it does," agreed Alexis.


	16. Chapter 16

Jo watched her partner's eyes light up for the first time that day. "What'd you find?" she asked Hanson.

Mike opened his mouth to speak, then closed it as he eyed his surroundings. "It's too quiet in here, did you notice that? I can't believe I actually miss our damn bullpen..."

Jo smacked her partner on the arm in response to his obvious teasing. "Mike..." she warned, "watch it. What. Did. You. Find."

Hanson grinned shamelessly before flipping his attention back to business. "I just got off the phone with a buddy of mine in missing persons. He told me about this Bermuda Triangle that's popped up around 44th Street near the West Side Highway..."

Jo's eyes widened as she recognized the location. "That's right near Port Authority..."

Hanson nodded. "Thirty-six women have gone missing in that area in the past six months."

The Castle's attention. "How could such a high concentration of disappearances go unnoticed in such a short time?"

Hanson and Jo turned to bring the Guardian into their conversation. "They were HHRs," Hanson told Jo.

Jo recognized the shorthand immediately. "Homeless, hookers and runaways," Jo explained to Castle.

"People no one would miss," Castle commented grimly. Jo and Hanson both nodded in agreement, then watched Castle intently as he searched through a stack of papers with an expression that spoke of sudden inspiration. "Half a dozen of the missing Covenant House girls were last seen in that area..."

"That can't be a coincidence," agreed Ryan, joining the conversation.

Jo pulled out her own notes. "Neither is this. Vice has been investigating a potential brothel on 52nd and 11th."

"Eight blocks away?" Hanson added. "There's gotta be a connection."

"Only one way to find out." The group turned to watch Esposito climb up slowly from his meditation. "We go there and take the fight to whoever or whatever we find when we get there."

The group got up and started to make preparation for the upcoming battle. Ryan turned to his partner when he realized who wasn't in the group with them. "Shouldn't we be getting Katya?"

Esposito glared at his partner, knowing that the man knew exactly what he was thinking. "Should we?"

Ryan averted his eyes from his partner's glare, coming to the same conclusion that he had. "Castle," he called over to his fellow Guardian. "We're ready whenever you are."

Castle nodded, and the group disappeared.

#

The group appeared in the loading bay of a nearby warehouse. Ryan and Castle projected their respective shields shortly after. _Beckett? _Castle projected into group mind-link, _anything?_

Beckett opened her hearing, scanning for signs of anything that sounded like their target. The signs were subtle, but obvious...once she figured out the connection between them. _Those girls..._she told the group. _The ones Covenant House sent us to find?_

_Yeah? _asked Ryan.

_I don't think any of them is older than fourteen, _Beckett declared. Her face fell into a mask of grim determination as she pulled her gun from its back holster, taking an almost instinctive comfort from the feel of the weapon in her hand.

The door to the warehouse blew open with a fiercely targeted gust of wind. The team slipped unnoticed through the door only to find the hallway empty. Another gust of wind blew open the barely locked door to the first storage space. A girl was collapsed on a thin mattress stained with dirt, blood, urine...and a smell that could motivate Beckett to action like nothing else. _Lanie, _she projected into the mind-link with a sense of urgency that overwhelmed every member of the group. _You guys are up._

Lanie and Lucas became immediately visible as they rushed toward their patient. Henry paled as he studied the pale, shaking and sweating tiny figure that was writing in obvious agony at their feet. "My God," he whispered, "what's wrong with her?"

"She's been thralled," Lanie declared. "Give me your hand."

Henry frowned, confused, as he held out his hand. "What do you nee..." He gasped as Lanie pulled out a knife and slashed Henry's hand across the palm. "What was that..."

Lanie slashed the girl's palm and pushed her cut against Henry's. "No time to explain. Hold her hand, just like that." The girl let out a scream of pure agony, threatening to cut off the circulation to Henry's hand until Lanie covered the clasped hands with both of her own. The trio froze for what felt like an eternity to the rest of the group...until Lanie and Henry's eyes flew open and the girl dropped off into what looked to be a peaceful, pain-free sleep. Lanie's attention was fixed solely on Castle. "Get us to the rest of these girls, wizard," she demanded. "We were almost too late for this one."

Castle, Lanie and Henry all disappeared. Alexis immediately cast shields in her father's place, and the group went room to room, looking for signs of anyone in the building that wasn't a kidnapped, beaten, tortured and thralled hostage.

The first being was discovered three doors down from their first victim. The vampire looked up from the girl's neck, annoyed that his meal had been disturbed. He attacked Esposito as Esposito went to attack him. The Guardian won the first battle, pinning the vampire against the wall. "Where's the guy in charge?" he growled.

The vampire didn't answer. He surprised Esposito with a counter-attack of pure blood-filled strength, slipping behind the Guardian and sinking his fangs into Esposito's neck. The vampire's life ended moments later as his abdomen burst into flames and consumed him.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful," Ryan commented. He knelt down, confirming the girl's death with a gentle touch on her arm. Ryan then stood up, mourning the loss of the innocent with one sad sigh before they continued their search of the building.

#

Their search concluded on the fourth floor of the warehouse. The Guardians made it through a half-dozen units on the floor when Beckett sensed the ancient's presence. _He's here, _Beckett projected into the group mind-link. _Other side of *this* floor._

_Remember what I taught you guys, _Ryan instructed the group. _Shields up._

The Guardians readied their mental defenses before filing out of the room, carefully creeping down the hallway even though they all knew that the caution was pointless. An Indian looking man with a stately, regal bearing waited for them at the other end of the large, empty room. Beckett holstered her weapon, knowing that bullets would be useless against a being with an ancient's speed. "Raminder Vengalil, I presume?"

Raminder smiled, a perfect, enigmatic smile that sent a shiver down the spine of every being in the room. "I see my reputation precedes me," he declared, never letting his voice go above a quiet, human speaking range. "Or have you been speaking with young miss...Petrovich?"

Ryan played dumb. "Who?"

Raminder shook his head, causing his long ponytail to swish gently behind him. "Ah, ah, ah," he chastised teasingly. "Evidently you do not know who taught Katya how to use her mental gifts...Guardian." The ancient moved to Ryan's side in a blur of speed, pressing his body against Ryan's side while leaning in to sniff the Guardian's neck. "Yes, I know everything about you, mister...Ryan. I know that you are one of those cursed Guardians...and I also know that your blood just might be the only thing that could end my eternal existence."

Esposito went along with his partner's routine of ignorance. "It can? Really? Hmmm, why don't you bite me and we'll find out?"

Raminder was unfazed. "Oh, that is a pathetic attempt at deception, Master Xiānzhī. No, I have no interest in drinking your blood. Any of you." He pulled away from Ryan so he could more comfortably address the group. "But, since I cannot have you destroying me, either..."

And with a casual wave of his hand, Henry, Alexis and the Guardians disappeared.

#

They reappeared in a desolate, excruciatingly hot landscape. The group glared at Castle. "I didn't do this!" he exclaimed.

Beckett heard a disturbing amount of cracking under her feet. "Guys," she asked warily, "where are we?"

The cracking grew louder as the group looked around. Henry's face paled as a piece of the dark soil fell out from beneath his feet...revealing the bright orange danger running underneath them. "My God..." he breathed. "Lava..."

The Guardians noticed the distress on Henry's face...just as the ground fell out from underneath Alexis. One by one Henry watched in horror as each of the Guardians followed Alexis into the molten river beneath them. When the ground started to give way underneath *him*, Henry's last thoughts went to how much he wished he was about to resurrect in the East River instead of the middle of the Pacific Ocean...

#

The painful, stinging cold was the first thing that Henry noticed as he came up for air.

The darkness was the second thing he noticed.

The third and final thing that Henry noticed shocked him more than his latest death in the lava fields of Hawaii. "What...?" he gasped, truly stunned for the first time in decades. "How in the world...?"

An NYPD police boat pulled up next to Henry, causing him to squint and raise a hand to protect his eyes from the floodlight that was being shined in his face. "SIR?" the policeman called out to him over a megaphone. "WOULD YOU LIKE TO EXPLAIN WHY YOU'VE CHOSEN TO GO SKINNY DIPPING IN THE EAST RIVER AT TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING?"


	17. Chapter 17

Henry paced the width of the tiny holding cell, oblivious to his onlookers as he worked through his frustration, anxiety, and grief. He had been so close, so tantalizingly close to understanding the nature of his curse and why he was...whatever it was that he was. Why he lived. Why he _always _lived. And how, when he was finally starting to get the answers he had been craving for so long, the people who _had _those answers...

Had just died, before his eyes.

In _Hawaii._

He had been aware of the existence of vampires for the better part of a century, so the idea of a world so outside of the realm of what was considered to be 'normal' wasn't that much of a stretch...especially given his own unique set of circumstances. And although he had heard occasional rumors of the Guardians' exploits (mostly through Lucas) for several years, there had been no reason for him to give much credence on said rumors.

But now...regret hung over his head like a cloud of shame. If he had kept in touch with Michel...if he had found a reason to get out of the lab before he met Jo...if he had not discounted Lucas' stories as 'wasteful flights of fancy', then maybe he would already have the answers to the questions that had dogged him for so very long. Maybe he would have a full understanding of who or what he really was and what he was capable of...

and maybe the Guardians would still be alive.

A uniformed police officer entered the holding area, finally breaking through Henry's cycle of self-flagellation. "Well, mister 'birthday suit'," the younger man mocked Henry, "you're free to go. Your ol' man posted bail."

_Abraham. _Henry sighed with relief at the mention of his son, allowing himself to shift his focus to the far-too-familiar tasks involved with being 'processed out'. He finally gave himself the chance to put his thoughts into words after Abe helped him into the car. "Thank you," he told Abe quietly.

Abe frowned at the polite greeting. "What happened back there?" he asked Henry. "Last I heard you were getting shuttled back and forth to the ME's office to use their lab equipment."

"We discovered that our killer is, indeed, a vampire," Henry explained. "A very old, very dangerous vampire. Apparently, he is also Katya's brother."

"Jesus," exclaimed Abe. "So what happened? Did he kill you?"

Henry shifted uncomfortably in his seat, memories of searing heat causing the hairs on the back of his neck to stand on end. "In a manner of speaking," he replied. "He teleported us to the lava fields around Mount Kilauea."

The car screeched to an abrupt halt. Abe briefly thanked whatever gods were watching over them when the light went from yellow to red a second after they came to a stop at the intersection. "He WHAT?!"

"This vampire is also a wizard, evidently," Henry declared. "When we confronted him, he sent us to the volcano...where we fell into a lava tube."

Abe's heart sank. He swallowed hard as he considered the pronoun that Henry had deliberately chosen to use for a second time. "We?"

Henry noticed how Abe's pale expression was probably a match to his own. "The Guardians. They were with me in Hawaii...and I believe I was the only one to return. Again."

What little was left of the car ride was spent in grieving silence. As Abe pulled into a parking space a few doors down from the antique store and shut off the car's engine, a question finally came to the front of his mind. "Wait, how _did_ you return?" When Henry glared at his quizzically, Abe clarified, "You always resurrect in the nearest body of water, right? So how come you're _here_ and not in the middle of the Pacific?"

Henry could only shrug. "I have no idea," he replied. "I remember my last thought being a desperate wish to come back in the East River instead of the Pacific Ocean, and the next thing I knew..."

"You were being pulled out of the East River," agreed Abe. Henry nodded. "First time that's happened?"

"I believe it might be," said Henry.

The pair left the car, walking the few steps between the parking space and the back entrance to their second-floor apartment. "So this is a good thing, right?"

_"If _I can replicate the results of what happened this evening," Henry warned skeptically.

Abe opened the door to let Henry go in ahead of him. "So maybe you can come back on land next time?"

Henry smirked at the question. "Or wearing clothes?"

"I vote for both," Abe agreed with a smile.

Henry's matching smile disappeared as soon as the door closed behind his son. "I hear someone upstairs," he warned.

Abe went on high alert almost instantly. "Friend or foe?"

"Can't tell yet," Henry replied at the lowest volume he dared. "Go around to the front of the store. Be ready to call the precinct."

"Got it," Abe agreed. He opened the door and closed it as silently as he could when he exited.

Henry then climbed the stairs with equal stealth and caution, praying with every step that the old wood wouldn't creak and give away his location. He soon cursed his terrible misfortune: his post-resurrection NYPD-issued sweats left him without any weapons save his own wits and self-defense skills. _While I am intrigued at the idea of attempting to repeat the successes of tonight, _Henry mused as he prepared to open the door to the kitchen, _I had hoped to not have to repeat them so quickly. _Resigned to his fate, he opened the door with a powerful flourish, determined to fight for his life against whatever lie on the opposite side...

What he found, to his stunned amazement, would most likely change the rest of his life, for however long he was destined to live. Alexis and all five Guardians-the very people that he had watched fall to their deaths-were now seated around his kitchen table. Henry shuffled into the room, unable to lower his hands to his sides and unwilling to believe the evidence in front of his eyes. So he called for backup. "ABE!" he yelled. "Can you come up here, please?"

Abe climbed the steps, baseball bat in hand, ready to help his father with whatever enemy the older man was facing. He ran into the room and immediately dropped the bat, confused by the sight in front of him. "I thought you said..."

"That they were dead?" Henry completed the question, then nodded. "I thought they were." He lowered his hands to his sides and finally turned his attention completely toward Abe. "So you can see them, too?"

"You're not seeing things, Henry," Ryan replied calmly. "We're all here."

Henry's jaw dropped as his eyes went from one Guardian to another in shock. "So we were all there? In the lava fields?" Everyone but Abe nodded. "Was I the only one who...?"

The group almost collectively winced at the memory of the shared experience. "No," Castle spoke up for the group, almost angrily, "you were not the only one who died."

A memory hit Abe with the force of a freight train. "That's what Martha was trying to tell me," he exclaimed. "You guys are _all _immortal."

"Essentially, yes," agreed Alexis.

Henry's eyebrow raised as he remembered his own similar conversation with the young redhead. "Essentially?"

"When you die, you seem to resurrect whether you want to or not," Esposito explained. "When we die, we can choose whether or not to go through with it."

Henry's eyes went wide. "Every time?" Esposito nodded, which stunned Henry to the point where Castle had to conjure a chair for the doctor to collapse into. Henry's mind eventually floated to the inevitable question. "So how old are all of _you_, exactly?"

"We only received this blessing a few years ago," replied Castle. "You're the first immortal human we've met."

"That wasn't _evil_, at any rate," Alexis grumbled under her breath.

Ryan ignored the younger woman's comment. "I know I'm hoping we can learn from your life's experiences," he told Henry. "Since you have a couple of centuries on us and all."

With the shock finally wearing off, Henry looked around the room at the group that surrounded him. The hardest part of his immortal journey had been the excruciating loneliness. Knowing that, no matter what happened, everyone he knew would eventually die and leave him behind.

Except, now, for the Guardians. Who not only accepted him for who he was, but were now looking to _him _as some sort of immortality mentor.

He shuddered briefly at the thought of the only being who could have possibly have been such a mentor for _him_. And while he still had no definitive proof of _Adam's_ immortality, he had watched the Guardians die. And return. These were people who could be in his life for the rest of his life. If he chose to let them in. "Something...happened this time," Henry finally admitted. "Something that's never happened to me before."

"What?" asked Lanie.

"When I die, my resurrection usually happens in the nearest large body of water..."

"Which is why we found you in the East River when you died at Port Authority?" asked Ryan.

Henry nodded. "But tonight, when I...we...died in Hawaii, I returned in the East River. I _should _still be floating in the middle of the Pacific."

Ryan's curiosity was piqued immediately. "What changed this time?"

Henry leaned forward, finding himself excited to tell his story to someone who could fully understand his situation. "When I die, usually I have images of my life that flash before my eyes..."

"Pretty typical for someone in that situation, isn't it?" Castle asked him.

Henry frowned briefly at the off-handed comment. "Yes, it is, isn't it..." He shook his head, forcing himself to get back on point. "This time, though, the uniqueness of our situation hit me much more quickly. My _only _thought was how badly I would have preferred to come back in the East River instead of the middle of the Pacific. And the next thing I knew I was being pulled _out of the East River."_

"Do you think the strength of your desire might have had some impact on where you resurrected?" asked Castle.

"I think the evidence speaks for itself, does it not?" countered Henry.

Alexis' scientific curiosity sparked to life. "I need a weapon..."

Abe stopped the young woman just before she reached for his chef's knife. "No death experiments in my kitchen," he insisted. "Either take the knife downstairs or we all go back to your warehouse where _I _don't have to be the one to clean up the mess!"

Alexis turned to her father. The twinkle in his eye told her that Castle was just as interested in her experiment as she was. "All right with everyone if we take this back to the warehouse?"

With no objections raised, the apartment emptied less than a second later.

#

Jo wrapped her arms around Henry as soon as she saw him. "All I heard was that the raid went bad," she told him. "I didn't know what to think..."

Henry's mind immediately went to all of the nightmares he had had about his 'partner' needlessly taking a bullet in his defense. "Jo..." he warned.

The tone in Henry's voice instantly told Jo what Henry was thinking. "Force of habit!" she excused herself defensively. "You'll forgive me if this whole immortality thing is going to take a little getting used to."

Henry chuckled and returned the embrace. "All right, you're forgiven..._this_ time," he teased.

Jo noticed how they had to catch up to the briskly walking group of heroes ahead of them. "So where we going?" she asked Henry.

"Master Sìfāng's practice lab," Henry explained. "Something...unusual happened earlier tonight and everyone's anxious to see if we can replicate the results."

"Unusual?" Jo asked quickly, wondering with a slight sense of dread what this group would qualify as 'unusual'.

Henry smiled at the trepidation in Jo's voice. "It should be an interesting experiment, to be honest..."

The small group cut their conversation short when they arrived at the lab...to find Lucas and Michel waiting with the rest of the Guardians. "Hey doc," Lucas greeted Henry cheerfully. "What're you guys up to?"

Henry's defenses went up immediately...and Ryan's reaction to those defenses was almost as immediate. "He's the only one left who doesn't know, Henry. At this point, it's more work to keep him _out _of the loop."

Henry rolled his eyes and sighed, resigned to his fate. "Oh, very well. Where do you want me?"

"In the next room," Alexis instructed him. She turned to the cops from Henry's precinct. "You guys have your service weapons with you?" When both Jo and Hanson nodded, Alexis continued, "either one of you interested in doing the honors?"

It didn't take long for Jo to put two and two together. "I'll do it," she agreed without hesitation.

Henry turned to Jo, clearly surprised by her willingness to volunteer. "Are you sure?"

Jo shrugged even as she smiled. "Need to get used to my new reality, right?"

Henry nodded, swallowing hard to fight off the nervousness that seemed to attack his psyche with surprising speed. "I just wish you weren't looking as forward to this as you seem to be..."

"Consider it payback for not trusting me sooner," said Jo.

"Duly noted," Henry agreed.

Lucas hadn't felt more out of the loop in his life. "Payback? For _what?!"_

The comment forced Alexis to account for Lucas in her rapidly developing plans. "Michel," she asked the vampire as Jo and Henry filed into the testing lab, "could you keep an eye on your friend for me? It's all right if he watches, but he can't be allowed to interfere."

"Oui, mademoiselle," Michel agreed, never leaving Lucas' side.

Satisfied that the wild card was taken care of, Alexis returned her focus entirely on the two people in the adjacent room. "Can you two hear me?" she asked Jo and Henry, speaking into the microphone. When the pair nodded, Alexis closed her eyes and whispered a quick spell. "All right," she explained, "the normal wards on the room have been removed. I was thinking we could try two tests, if you don't mind, Henry?"

Henry nodded. "I assume the first one is the one we discussed earlier?"

Alexis nodded. "And then after that, I'd like to see if you can keep yourself from disappearing at all."

The idea surprised Henry at first, but he quickly understood Alexis' logic and the value behind it. "Should we do that test first, or second?"

"I'm just a monitor at this point, Henry. From this point on it's your show, so it's your call."

Henry paused, carefully considering both options before making up his mind. "Then shall we begin?" he asked Alexis.

"Ready when you are," she agreed.

Henry nodded, then turned his attention to Jo. "Are _you _ready, detective?" he asked quietly, his voice filled with sympathy and compassion.

Jo swallowed hard. "No," she admitted nervously. "But let's do it anyway."

Henry drew in a deep breath and let it out quickly, steeling his nerves for the upcoming blow and focusing his mind on the desired result. "One between the eyes should do it, then, Detective. If you please?"

Lucas' eyes flew wide when he realized what his boss was asking for. "Did he just tell her to...?"

Michel shushed the younger man, squeezing his hand with emphatic force. "They know what they are doing, friend. Do. Not. Interfere."

Lucas opened his mouth to protest, then closed it when the crack of a gunshot rang through both rooms. He panicked as he watched his boss collapse...probably dead. The only thing that stopped him was the superhuman grip that threatened to break every bone in his body if he moved so much as an inch. "Michel!" Lucas grunted out in protest. "Let...me..."

"Quiet!" Michel warned Lucas quietly. "Watch...just...watch."

Lucas' eyes darted about the room in a wild panic...until they rested on the bank of monitors in front of Alexis. He gasped at the image; then he froze, rooted by shock to his spot when he realized that the camera really was picking up the truth of what had happened in the other room. "What...where...he's gone!"

"Excellent powers of observation, Lucas," Henry agreed. "I died in that room. Disappeared. And now I'm standing behind you."

Michel released his grip on Lucas, who turned around to see his boss standing behind him, fully clothed, spattered with blood, and grinning shamelessly.

The younger man promptly fainted.

Alexis, for her part, was unfazed. "I take it that the first stage of our experiment was a success, Doctor Morgan?"

Henry bounded on the balls of his feet with excitement as he glanced at his unconscious assistant before answering. "That is correct, Miss Castle. Although, it _is _hard to decide whether it would be easier to resurrect in the nude than it will be to get blood out of this suit..."

"Not today," Alexis countered with a smile. A wave of her hand caused all wrinkles and stains to disappear from Henry's clothing, leaving him as smartly dressed as he had been when he left the house that morning. Satisfied with her work, Alexis returned to the business at hand. "Now, then...shall we move on to stage two?"


	18. Chapter 18

Michel sat silently, patiently waiting for his new friend to regain consciousness. The vampyr only stirred when Lucas rolled over and groaned. "Are you injured, mon ami?" asked Michel.

"Only my pride...I think," Lucas replied. He frowned, confused, as his last conscious memories came back to him. "Michel," Lucas began, unsure of how to put what he saw into words. "Before I passed out..."

Michel confirmed Lucas thoughts before he had the chance to give voice to them. "You saw what you thought you saw, mon ami. Henri did, indeed, die."

Lucas' eyes flew wide. "And...and then he disappeared and reappeared behind me?"

Michel nodded. "Henri is immortal, chèr. He did not reappear behind you. He resurrected_."_

"He _resurrected?"_ Lucas gasped, clearly stunned by the word.

Michel nodded again. "That is the secret he has been keeping from you. His _greatest _secret."

Lucas' eyes went even wider. "Henry's Immortal? As in 'Highlander', 'There can be only one' Immortal?"

It quickly became Michel's turn to be the confused one. "I am not familiar with this reference, chèr, but I promise you, I am speaking the truth. Henri cannot die."

Lucas was suddenly grateful to already be on the floor. "Mon dieu..." he exclaimed.

Michel chuckled. "I did not know you spoke French, mon ami."

"I don't," Lucas declared. He sighed, using the silence to let the truth about his boss start to sink in. "How old _is_ he?"

"Two hundred and thirty-five years old," Michel replied, grateful that Henry had given him carte blanche to tell Lucas whatever the younger man needed to know. "I have known Henri for just over half of that time."

Lucas' eyes seemed to be threatening to fall out of his head. "You've known Henry for over a hundred years?!" he exclaimed.

"Give or take, as I believe the expression goes," Michel agreed. "After a while it is no longer worth the effort to keep track."

Lucas shook his head, still trying to wrap his head around the idea that his boss...his friend...was over two centuries old. "So Henry's like you, then..." Lucas cut off the idea immediately, his mind instantly starting a running tally of all the times he had seen Henry in the daytime. "What am I saying, of course he's not a vampyr..."

Michel chuckled. "No, mon ami. Henri is quite human. The most human being that I have ever met, in many, many ways. And utterly unique among your kind."

"Because he can't die?" asked Lucas.

Michel nodded. "Among other things..."

"What does that mean?" asked Lucas. An uncomfortable idea jumped to the front of his mind. "Were you and he...?"

Michel chuckled. "Henri has never been my...type, as you say, chèr. And if I were ever to try to...partake, it would be the last thing I would ever do."

"Why is that?"

"His blood is lethal to my kind," Michel replied. "If I were to drink from him it would be as if I walked into the sunlight."

"So...you _knew _about all this?"

Michel and Lucas turned around to find Henry standing in the doorframe to the lab room. The two beings stood up while Henry entered the observation room. "I did not realize it at the time," Michel explained. "I did not learn about the Guardians until I first met Katya, which was _several _years after you and I parted ways."

"And my blood?" Henry countered.

_"_It was the reason I first made contact with you that night," said Michel. "A threat assessment. I had to see how much of a danger you posed to my kind." Henry's skeptically raised eyebrow greatly amused the vampyr. "What did you think I was there to do, Henri? Make a new friend?"

Henry shrugged, knowing that he had had no idea what had been going through the vampyr's mind at the time. "So when you told me you had 'taken care of' the vampyr who attacked me..."

"It was a far more custodial than predatory task, I'm afraid," Michel admitted.

"What are you doing here, doc?" asked Lucas. "I figured you'd be off chasing down the ancient with the rest of the Guardians."

"Well, now that there's reason to believe I have some control over this...ability," Henry replied, still fighting to speak about his immortality in a positive light, "we're trying to test how _much_ control I have_." _He disappeared, causing Lucas and Michel to gasp in surprise...then reappeared before both beings had a chance to gasp a second time. "The first step has been to break down the components of the process and see which parts I can handle independently."

Lucas eyed his boss warily. "This whole teleportation thing is part of your...immortality?" His mind flashed back to watching Henry die, disappear...and reappear behind him. "Of course it is," he mumbled. Lucas' eyes then lit up when he realized what he had _just _witnessed. "Is that the first time you were able to teleport..."

"Without dying first?" asked Henry, completing the younger man's question before he asked it. "No. But it might have been the _second._"

"Wow," Lucas mouthed silently. "And a week ago I thought vampires and superheroes were only in the movies. Now I'm friends with a vampire and I just found out my boss is a freakin' superhero."

Michel gently squeezed Lucas' shoulder in sympathy before returning his attention to his immortal friend. "So, back for more testing, Henri?"

Henry nodded. "As much as we can while the Guardians meditate."

Lucas blinked back surprise and confusion at his boss' reply. "Did you just say _meditate_?"

Henry nodded again. "Master Sìfāng said he needed to get some advice to help us the next time we have to face Raminder."

That explanation did nothing to alleviate Lucas' confusion. "How is he going to get advice through meditation?"

#

Castle's footfalls echoed loudly every time one of his shoes made contact with the stone surface, causing him to wince with every step he took. "Is it always this loud here?" he grumbled.

Beckett felt her soulmate' frustration through their bond, setting her own teeth on edge. "Only when you're getting on my last nerve," she warned. Finally fed up, Beckett stopped Castle in the middle of the courtyard. "What's going on here, Rick? You've been in a nasty mood since we came back from Hawaii."

"You make it sound like we just came back from vacation!" Castle exclaimed. "We _died _in Hawaii."

Beckett rolled her eyes. "Yeah, we died. So what? We died, we came back. The blessing worked. You should be _thrilled. _Why is this pissing you off?"

Castle sighed, trying to set aside his emotions and get down to business. "Our deaths are the problem, Kate! Everything we've seen, everything we've experienced, everything I've been taught has made it abundantly clear: Wizards can't use their powers to kill."

"Yeah?"

"So _how did we die?!"_

Kate finally caught on to the source of Castle's emotional state. "That's why you were so adamant about needing to come here, isn't it?"

Castle nodded and sighed. "I'm hoping Jamyang will have some of the answers that we don't."

"What answers may I provide for you today, brother Sìfāng?"

Castle and Beckett turned to find Jamyang quietly observing their argument from the temple's entrance. "Our current enemy is unlike any being we have ever faced before. And his powers...his powers seem to achieve the one thing that I was always told a wizard could never do."

Jamyang drew In a sharp, quick breath. "He has used his powers to kill?"

"Us, specifically," Beckett replied.

"I...see," said Jamyang. He closed his eyes and reached a hand toward the Guardians in front of him. "The blessing still rests upon you...and yet you say that you died?"

Castle nodded. "Is that important?"

"It may be," Jamyang insisted. He descended the steps from the temple entrance and approached Castle and Beckett in the courtyard. "Tell me about this Mage who opposes you."

"He is a vampyr," Castle replied. "His name is..."

"Raminder Vengalil," declared Jamyang, completing Castle's sentence for him.

Jamyang's familiarity with the Mage surprised Beckett. "You know him?" she asked.

"I do," Jamyang agreed. "We had an encounter with the Mage when Katya was staying with us. He is a very powerful and...dangerous being."

"What happened?" asked Castle.

Jamyang flinched, averting his eyes away from his counterpart. "It is a very long story."

"You didn't defeat him, though, obviously," Beckett added.

A pang of regret flashed across Jamyang's face. "We almost did."

"How?!" asked Castle, his fraying emotions evident.

Jamyang waved his hand, and a chess board appeared next to them. "Do you play, brother?" Castle nodded. "Then be seated, please."

Castle sat as instructed, waiting impatiently as Jamyang took the position across from him. The elder Guardian made the first move with a wave of his hand. Castle mirrored Jamyang's move with his own opening. He then gasped, surprised and frustrated, as every piece disappeared...and reappeared in a formation that gave Jamyang checkmate. "What...that's not fair!" Castle exclaimed.

"Forgive me," Jamyang waved off Castle's complaint with a humble apology. "It has been many ages since I last played. Shall we try again?"

Castle reluctantly nodded, waving his own hand to reset the board. He opened the game...then bit his lower lip angrily as Jamyang rearranged into checkmate a second time. "You're trying to teach me something here," he muttered under his breath, trying and failing to get his emotions under control. "But what..."

"Another round, then?" asked Jamyang as he reset the board.

They played a dozen games. The game were always short: often two moves, sometimes three. One or two of the games made it to almost a dozen moves. But every game ended in the same way. "Checkmate," Jamyang declared.

"Goddamn it," Castle muttered under his breath. "Just once can't we play a full game by the _rules..." _The Guardian's eyes lit up as he finally understood what Jamyang was trying to teach him. "Raminder doesn't play by the rules..."

"Not...exactly." Jamyang leaned forward in his chair, resting his face on his hands as the board sat between them. "In all the games we played, did I ever once move a piece in a way that could be considered illegal?"

"Not until you got to the end," Castle replied. His eyes widened with inspired realization. "That's it, isn't it? Raminder will only play by the rules as a means to an end."

Jamyang nodded. "That single-minded focus is the vampire mage's greatest weakness. Find a way to use that against him and he will destroy himself."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: **I know this is a crazy short chapter, guys, even for me. I'm going to try to bang this one out quickly (we're speeding to the finish, in case it wasn't already obvious) so I can get back to Age of Miracles and get that one done. It's also going to get kinda dark and disturbing (at times) from this point forward. Trying to avoid M territory, but tread lightly if you're really squeamish. It's also the reason I might be posting more quickies to get through this. You have been warned...

#

Being a daywalker was often a strange experience. Being a _married _daywalker was an even stranger experience. And being a daywalker married to a human...

Well, that's what led to days like this.

Katya stalked the narrow aisles of the Russian grocery store, hoping against hope that something would remind her of one of the dishes her mother used to make, of some ingredient she used in her cooking...something, _anything _that reminded her of her old home and her mortal life.

No such luck.

Even most of the vodkas were American.

Katya's last fight with her husband was still ringing in her ears, as it had been since it happened. _Mark doesn't trust me, _she thought. _We have known each other for four years, and after everything we've been through, he still doesn't trust me... _She left the store without making a purchase, turning up the collar of her coat against the blustery cold wind she didn't feel. A crowd of teenagers were coming off the B train, so Katya leaned against the building and let the group pass.

It was hard not to sigh at the memories of her past that floated through her mind. It was even harder not to think about 'what might have been' had she been born in a different century...this century. _But if I _had _been born in this century, then Mark and I would never have met. _She gasped as the thought of the true difference in their ages revealed a whole new truth. _He knows so much about me, _she realized, _and yet there's so much that he doesn't know, too...maybe he's right not to trust me. _

Katya turned to head back down the street. Her pace quickened with the excitement of inspiration. _I will go to him, _she thought determinedly, _I will give myself to him until he knows that he doesn't have to worry about me..._

It all happened far too quickly for Katya to do anything about it.

The whoosh of erupting flame.

The acrid smell of smoke.

The bitter, angry, all too familiar growling hiss.

"Hello, sisssster..."

And just like that...she was gone.

#

Castle opened his eyes to the sight of his beloved staring back at him...and his fellow Guardian still meditating next to them both. He turned to Ryan, who was sitting at his desk doing paperwork. "No word from Espo yet, huh?"

"Nope," Ryan replied. "How'd it go at the temple?"

Castle slowly climbed to a standing position...while Beckett kipped to a stand like she had barely spent any time sitting down. Castle glared at his fiancée while answering Ryan's question. "Well, the good news is that Jamyang was able to be a little more specific than he usually is, since they had their own run-in with Raminder."

"They've fought him before?" Ryan asked, turning his attention completely away from the paperwork.

Castle nodded. "He wasn't too forthright with the details, but he did say that Raminder is single-minded to the point of obsession."

"And that when he's in that zone," Beckett added, "he'll break every rule to achieve his objective. Including ones that we thought couldn't be broken."

"Like using his powers to kill us," said Ryan. Castle and Beckett both nodded in agreement. "So what's his objective?"

"It can't be us," Beckett replied. "He thinks we're all dead."

Esposito jumped up from his meditation with a look of panic on his face. He made a beeline straight for his partner. "Ryan," Esposito told Ryan, the urgency immediately evident in his voice, "contact Katya."

Ryan did as he was told...and his face quickly drained of all color. "I can't reach her."

"Is she okay?" asked Beckett.

"No," Ryan insisted, the edge in his voice growing from urgency to outright panic. "Castle..."

Castle pulled Katya into the room...and the sight of her was something that he knew was going to haunt his nightmares for a long, long time. He tried to help Katya up from the chair...but quickly stopped when any movement caused Katya to howl with agony. "She...she's tied to the chair, somehow..."

"Not tied," Beckett added. Her hands ran over the cold marble of the heavy chair, trying and failing to understand what was keeping Katya stuck in her prison of suffering. "Fused. I think her skin's been fused to this...rock..."

"That must be why it came with her," agreed Castle.

Ryan knelt down in front of the chair and looked up into Katya's eyes. The waves of pain coming off of his old friend almost broke him. "Kat, who did this to you?"

Katya lifted her head only with what seemed to be Herculean effort. Her answer came out at just barely above a whisper. "Raminder..."

Lanie appeared in the bullpen just as Katya disappeared. "What happened?" she asked, taking note of the disturbed expression on the faces of her fellow Guardians.

"It's Katya," Castle replied, his voice choking on his own words. "Raminder's got her."


	20. Chapter 20

Darkness. Darkness was all she saw. All she knew. Katya would have looked around...if she had the energy. She wanted to look around, see if she could find any ray of light or shred of evidence that could tell her where she was. But she couldn't. She couldn't even find the strength to lift her head.

Her world had been narrowed down to two sensations. The first one? Pain. Constant, unrelenting pain. The first moments had been the worst as Raminder levitated her high in the air, using a knife to slash her wrists, neck and thighs and a baseball bat to mercilessly beat every other inch of her body until the little blood that was left in her body was only there to feed her bruises. Then there was the burning: the searing, excruciating pain that radiated through her body when Raminder flung her into the marble chair and fused it to her back, bottom and thighs. For one brief, shining moment there had been relief when Master Sìfāng pulled her back into the loving arms of her brave Guardians...

Then Raminder dragged her back to Hell on Earth.

And the second sensation began.

The second sensation wasn't so much pain, exactly...although there was more than enough of that to go around as Raminder periodically added new slashes to make sure that as little blood stayed in her body as possible. No, the second sensation was sourced by the constant presence of the Jiangshi. What little energy she had was slowly being drained away by the hulking, hopping beast that stayed in the shadows. She was so tired, and hurting so very much...

It was hard to think of anything to live for.

Raminder came into the light, looming over her with a smug, fang-bearing grin. "You thought you were going to leave me again, did you?" he asked her. She didn't have the spunk or the strength to come up with a response. "Leave me for those perfect Guardians of yours..." Raminder pounded on something nearby, sending debris crumbling to the ground from the impact. "How are they _still alive?!"_ he exclaimed angrily. Raminder flexed the muscles in his punching hand as he forced himself to calm down. That newfound calm allowed a random thought to float from Katya's mind to Raminder's, and he laughed wickedly. "You _still_ think that they will find you and rescue you?! How cuuuuute!" He sprinted to her side, leaning in so that his mouth was right next to her ear. "But the question is, how long will you _last _when they find you?"

_What is he talking about? _thought Katya.

"What am I talking about? I'll _tell _you," Raminder replied gleefully to the unspoken question. "I am sure you noticed that I've drained you of your blood. Tell me," he sprinted back to Katya's ear and leaned in. "How _hungry _are you, Katya? Or should I say, how _thirsty _are you?" Katya groaned, the words shifting her focus just enough to recognize that her thirst was starting to consume her from the inside out.

It was a state that Raminder noticed instantly. "There it is!" he exclaimed, cooing at Katya like he was giving positive reinforcement to a toddler. "You see, with just the right amount of prompting, I wager it will not be all that long before you will be so _desperately_ thirsty that you would drain whatever human I put in front of you. Say, for example, that 'husband' of yours?"

_Mark..._Katya pushed against the magic binding her to the chair, trying and failing to ignore the pain the movement caused her. "No..." she grunted, only forcing out the word with the greatest of effort.

Raminder responded to Katya's pain with sympathetic expressions of pity. "Oh, don't fret so, child! I promise you, you will feel so much better...so much stronger after you give in..."

Katya got up enough energy to lift her head and glare angrily at Raminder. She wanted to spit in his face. If she had any blood left in her body, she would have. Instead, she mustered up the last bits of her strength and courage to make sure that Raminder heard which she hoped would not be her last three words: "Go. To. Hell."

Raminder's jovial mood left him. He grabbed Katya's hair and forcefully yanked her head back, bringing them together, face to face. "I have been there for centuries, Ekaterina. And soon, you will _gladly _join me." Raminder stood up, swaying slightly, unsteady on his feet. He shook off the disorientation but seemed suddenly out of sorts. "I...I need to gather strength for what is to come," Raminder commented, talking as much to himself as he was to Katya. "I will return..." He turned his fraying attention to the Jiangshi as he stumbled out of the range of what little light she had. "Watch...watch her." The Jiangshi nodded and grunted acceptance of his master's command.

Katya smiled as she felt Raminder's presence depart from the building. Even underneath her Jiangshi-created cloud of despair, Katya had finally found her pinprick of light at the end of her long, dark tunnel. Because for all of his pompous power and arrogant attempts at sounding like a brilliant criminal mastermind, Raminder had just made his first mistake. _And hopefully, _she thought, _with just a little luck...it might be his last._

#

Henry smiled, the bounce in his step keeping up his spirits as he strolled in the cool evening air. _I need some time_, he remembered Jo saying. The sentiment was perfectly understandable; it took Abigail several days to accept his immortality...and that was under the relatively normal circumstances of their military service. So considering the insane circumstances that they had been working under during this case, if Jo wanted some time alone to get her bearings after the way the world had shifted underneath their feet, well, she was certainly entitled.

But, to Henry's delight, the one thing that Jo didn't want to be was _alone. I still have a million questions, _she had told him. _Come over tonight. I'll cook dinner, and we'll...talk._ He brought a bottle of wine: one of his favorites from his small, private collection that he and Abraham only shared on special occasions. They could have a glass or two of the wine, a nice dinner...

After everything _he'd _been through since the start of this case, to Henry, the idea sounded positively heavenly.

Henry turned the corner, his pace quickening as he got within a few houses of Jo's brownstone...

...until a scream stopped him in his tracks. The voice had a ring of familiarity that sent a shot of panic through his system. _My God, _he thought, _Jo..._

He was instantly around the corner. The sight he teleported into was one that, he knew, was going to be burned into his brain for all eternity. The vampire Mage had Jo pinned in front of him, an arm around her neck...

And his teeth buried deep into her throat.

Rage overwhelmed Henry. "Let her go," he growled. "Now."

Raminder looked up from his meal, surprised but not shocked by who was interrupting him. _Great, _he thought, _another one. _He pushed Jo's body aside and backed away from the enraged immortal approaching him. "We'll see each other again, _Guardian_," Raminder hissed, "soon."

The Mage disappeared, leaving Henry alone with Jo. His attention instantly switched from the killer to his victim. "Oh God, Jo..." he exclaimed. Henry rushed to her side, picking up her head and cradling it in his lap. He pushed stray hairs away from her face, despair creeping into his heart. _She's so cold, _he thought. _Can't find a pulse..._

The sensation was like nothing he had ever experienced in his life. It wasn't like the tunnel that he passed through every time he traveled from death back to life, of that much he was certain. But what he was traveling through, he couldn't possibly tell you. There was an energy to it, that much he could tell, although that energy seemed to be weak and fading fast. And it was dark. So very dark...

He heard Jo's voice, although it was from what seemed to be a great distance. "Oh my God, Henry," she gasped out, "what happened?!"

It was getting cold. Painfully cold. The tunnel beckoned to him, and he surrendered to its embrace like the hug of an old friend, letting his life flash before his eyes...

#

Henry broke the surface of the East River, stunned to find himself in such a familiar position.

He had died. When he had touched Jo's body, he had _died_. Alongside her? He couldn't be certain. And as for _how _he had died?

Henry had absolutely no idea.


	21. Chapter 21

Jo stared down at her hands. She was still in shock. It only took a moment, though, before she shook her head and set her confusion aside in favor of dealing with the urgent priority. Standing up, she grabbed her purse and dug through it until she found her cell phone, dialing a very familiar number. "Abe," she ordered, not stopping to let the older man ask questions, "I need you to meet me at the river. Bring the blanket, towel and sweats."

Abe understood immediately what had happened. "Do I want to know?" he asked.

"Don't really know what happened myself," Jo admitted. "I'm hoping Henry will be able to explain when we get him."

"You remember the place?"

"I think it might be burned into my brain," Jo replied. "See you there."

#

Abe pulled up just as Henry was crawling ashore. Jo arrived while the older man was rushing to the beach to take care of his father. She waited by her car with the barest level of patience, heading down to join the two men only after her partner was at least half-dressed. "You okay, Henry?" she asked the immortal.

Henry nodded, accepting the greeting with gentlemanly politeness. "I am fine, detective, thank you for asking."

"What the hell happened?!" Jo demanded, her emotions turning on a dime as pleasantries gave way to the need for answers. "All I can remember is walking down the street with the groceries for dinner and the next thing I know, you're dying in my arms!"

Henry sighed, accepting with frustration that even he only knew half the story with any level of certainty. "You were attacked, Jo," he explained, "when you were around the corner from your house. By the time I got to you...I think _you _were near death."

Jo's eyes went wide. She started firing off questions one after another. "I was attacked? By who? You saw him? And If _I'm _the one who almost died, then how am I fine and we're...here?"

"I'm so sorry, Jo," Henry replied, "but I can't answer all of your questions. Yes, I saw the being who attacked you. It was Raminder Vengalil."

Jo drew in a sharp breath. "The vampire mage?"

Henry nodded. "But your last question...I can't answer it. I don't understand it myself. After the vampire disappeared, I tried to tend to your wounds...but as soon as I touched you, I think...I think I might have died."

"How?!" Jo exclaimed. Henry could only shrug.

"Do you think the Guardians might know?" asked Abe.

Henry considered the idea for a moment. "I wouldn't be surprised. I will contact them in the morning."

"Why wait?" asked Abe. He pulled out a cell phone and the business card that happened to be in the same pocket. When Jo and Henry glared at him with looks of amused curiosity, Abe glared right back. "What? Madame Diva gave me the card yesterday," he replied to the unspoken question. He then ignored both of his companions in favor of responding to the switchboard operator on the other end of the phone. "It's Methuselah. Yeah, the new guy. Are they around? Something's come up and we need to ask them about it." The answer Abe got caused him to frown. "Thanks for letting me know. I'll tell the doc. Okay. Bye."

"What's happened?" Henry asked as Abe disconnected from the call.

"Raminder's kidnapped Katya," Abe replied. "And since you guys just had a run-in with him..."

Henry caught on immediately. "I should go back to the warehouse, see if I can lend some assistance."

Jo turned to Abe after Henry disappeared. "Methuselah?"

Abe shrugged. "Apparently, someone thought it was ironic."

#

Fallon was pacing the room with such an angry, impatient ferocity that Castle was finding it hard to focus. "Phoenix," he warned his 'boss', "I swear, if you don't stop right now, I'm going to lock you in the box until we find her."

"So you found her?" asked Fallon.

"Not _yet,_" he replied. "With so little to go on, a locator spell like this is incredibly delicate, and right now it's next to impossible because _I can't concentrate with you pacing like that!"_

Fallon sighed as he came to a stop, drawing on the tiger spirit's energy to try and calm his fraying nerves. He was just about to apologize when Henry appeared at the entrance to the bullpen. "Agents," he greeted the group with a breathless urgency, "Abraham told me you were looking for Raminder?" When all heads in the room nodded, Henry continued, "Jo and I just had a run-in with him. He almost killed Jo."

Esposito looked to Castle, who understood Esposito's need without him needing to give voice to it. Jo appeared next to Henry, house keys in her hand. It only took her a moment to shake off the disorientation of the instant change in her surroundings and put her keys in her pocket. "How can I help?" she asked.

Fallon and the Guardians shared a look of confusion between them. "I thought you said our vampire almost killed her?" Castle asked Henry.

Henry could only shrug. "I wish I could tell you what happened," he replied. "I'm at as much of a loss as all of you are."

Esposito stepped forward, taking the lead in approaching Henry and Jo. "Maybe I can help figure out what happened?" Jo looked to Henry for help, but Esposito was the one who answered Jo's unspoken question. "I read memories, detective," he explained to Jo. "Even if you can't clearly remember what happened, I can combine your memories with Henry's and get everything we need to know about what went down tonight."

Jo accepted Esposito's explanation on faith. "Okay," she agreed, "what do you need me to do?"

"Just give me your hand," Esposito replied. Jo complied, and Esposito took her hand in his own, quickly downloading all of her memories of the incident. When the line appeared in the middle of his mental 'vision', Esposito realized he needed help to follow it. "Ry," he called over to his partner. Ryan opened a connection between them, and Esposito drew strength from that connection, using that extra focus to follow Raminder's memories to the location they were all so desperately looking for. The Guardian's eyes flew open with determined urgency. "Got it," he declared. "Let's go."

The Guardians sprang into action, hurriedly preparing to leave. The four Guardians immediately noticed who was preparing to go to war at their side. "You sure you want to do this?" Ryan asked Fallon.

Fallon's eyes flashed orange. "Try and stop me," he growled.

"All right, then," Ryan surrendered quickly.

Jo and Henry watched the preparations with an increasing state of empty frustration. "What about us?" Jo asked the Guardians. "You said you could tell us what happened to us tonight."

Esposito sighed, not wanting to waste a moment but knowing that leaving was also unfair to the couple before him. "Henry," Esposito instructed, "I need your hand." Henry offered his hand willingly. Esposito broke into a wide grin as he updated his copy of Henry's memories in his mind. "Castle," he called over to his fellow Guardian, "grab Lanie."

Lanie instantly appeared in the bullpen, clearly having been interrupted in the middle of a lab experiment. She opened her mouth to protest, but closed it quickly when she saw the impatient, urgent expressions on the faces of her fellow Guardians...every one, that is, except for her husband, whose eyes seemed to sparkle with excitement. "What's going on here?" she asked her husband warily.

"Honey," Esposito replied, "meet your new apprentice."

Jo, Henry and Lanie all turned to Esposito with matching looks of shock. "Apprentice?!" the trio asked Esposito in near-unison.

Esposito shared Henry and Jo's memories through their soulmate-link. "Babe," he replied, "I've got enough of your memories in my head to know a healing trance when I feel one. Now, I'm sorry, but we gotta go." Lanie stomped her feet as the room emptied, clearly annoyed that she was the one left holding the proverbial bag.

Jo turned to Lanie, completely lost. "What are they talking about?"

Lanie sighed, fighting to set aside her own emotions to help the couple in front of her. She quickly reviewed everything that had been in her husband's thoughts and shared memories before speaking. "When Henry touched you after the vampire's attack, he healed all your injuries. That's why you had so much trouble remembering the attack as real."

"How?!" Henry exclaimed, unable to process the idea that he could be capable of what Lanie was describing. "How could I possibly have done such a thing..."

"Think of it as a psychic cut-and-paste," Lanie replied, her expression serious and grim. "The energy that makes you immortal took Jo's injuries from her and transferred them to you. But because you had no idea what you were doing, you got lost in the process. The combination of the lack of oxygen and massive blood loss from the vampire attack..."

"Is what killed me," Henry declared, slowly putting the pieces together.

Lanie nodded. "Now, I can help you get used to the process so that you'll be less likely to get lost in the future, but this transfer that happened between you is something that I've never dealt with before. I have no idea if you can heal someone without taking on whatever you're trying to heal."

Henry stole a glance at Jo, remembering the panic that shot through his heart at the thought of losing her. If protecting her and keeping her safe could only happen through taking on her pain for himself, well, then..."Doctor Parish, when can we start?"


	22. Chapter 22

The space that the group teleported into was so empty and dark that Ryan started to wonder if he had been blindfolded...or worse, that the teleport failed in some horrific way. "Guys?" he whispered, sensing more than seeing the presence of his fellow Guardians and needing audible reassurance that they were safe and in the same room with him.

Beckett shushed Ryan, her gift allowing her eyes to adjust to the darkness first. "We're in an empty underground parking garage."

Satisfied that he was safe and wasn't alone, Ryan established a group mind-link. _Okay, everybody here? _A chorus of _yeah_s echoed in his head in reply, so he widened the connection to allow everyone to see through Beckett's eyes. _Your show, Beckett, _Ryan projected into the mind-link. _We'll follow your lead._

Beckett crept forward, carefully scanning the area ahead of her for any sign of Katya or enemies that might be protecting her. The rest of the group stayed close behind, their eyes glazed over as they favored the information their minds' eyes were giving them over the information their physical eyes were giving them. A few scattered thugs patrolled the upper level; their night-vision goggles giving them what they thought was unbeatable protection against anyone who was looking to ambush them in the pitch blackness.

They never stood a chance.

Their last enemy, though, was one that Beckett felt before she ever saw him. _The Jiangshi is downstairs, _she informed the group.

_I feel him, too, _Ryan agreed. A flash of a thought caught his attention. _Javi?_

_It's just...the Jiangshi, this feeling...it feels familiar, _Esposito replied. _I think the guys might have faced one before._

_Did they defeat it? _asked Fallon.

Esposito nodded. _Yeah. Cut off the head, burn the pieces, and the soul leaves._

_Cut off the head, huh? _Castle commented. _Guess that really is the answer to everything..._

Beckett was in no mood for her fiancé's usual crisis joking. _Can you modify your shield to block his effects on us?_

_No problem, _replied Castle. _Ryan, can you give me a minute? _When he felt Ryan disconnect him from the group mind-link, Castle turned his focus entirely on the all-important spell. A slight change in wording and focus were all that was required, and the shield spell flowed as effortlessly as it always had. "It's done," he whispered to the group.

Beckett relaxed, breathing in the lighter-feeling air as the shield lifted the cloud over her mood. _Nice work, Castle, _she complimented him. Her katana materialized in its familiar back holster, and she pulled it out, readying herself for the stealth attack she had planned. _Everyone ready?_

_We got your back, Beckett, _declared Esposito.

Ryan cast a perception filter as insurance against the unexpected. _Remember, Beckett, the perception filter won't work after you make contact with the Jiangshi..._

_So don't miss, _Beckett added, completing her partner's warning. _Don't worry. I won't miss._

_What about Raminder?_ asked Castle. _Do we know if he's down there?_

Beckett shrugged. _I can't tell. The Jiangshi's energy is blocking me from sensing anything else._

_In that case, _Fallon declared, _everybody stick tight. This whole setup pretty much screams 'waiting ambush'._

_Copy that, _Esposito agreed, already on high alert.

The group headed down the ramp to the lower level. The energy void called to Beckett even from behind Castle's shield, constantly announcing the location of their current threat. Beckett led the group through the empty room, maneuvering through the concrete pillars until the hulking figure was in her line of sight. The group stepped back, giving Beckett the room she needed to swing. She raised the weapon up over her head, pulled the sword back, aimed and swung...

...only to connect with empty air. _Fallon was right,_ Beckett declared to the group, _it's a trap._

Bullets flew at them from every direction. Most of the bullets pinged harmlessly of their shields...but Beckett heard a few rip through two flesh-and-blood targets somewhere in the room. One, she knew, was the Jiangshi...and the other sent Fallon off at a sprint as soon as he saw her through Beckett's eyes. _Katya..._he cried.

Katya groaned, unable to even get up the strength to smile.

Fallon knew exactly what to do. He bit on his wrist, hard enough to draw blood, then positioned himself so the blood was at Katya's mouth. _C'mon, Kat, _he thought, _drink._

The vampyr sniffed at the wound, drawing back from the wound even as her thirst drew her to it. Finally, seemingly, satisfied, Katya licked at the bite marks, sucked at them, and then finally bit down in an act of instinctive desperation. Fallon grunted in reaction to the pain, unable to stop from making a sound but not wanting to cry out for fear of pulling their enemies' attention back to what he was trying to do.

It only took three long swallows for Katya's body to regain enough strength to fully fuel her thirst. She yanked on her husband's arm, pulled him in until they were cheek-to-cheek, then bit down on his neck and drove her fangs deep into his jugular vein.

Their world disappeared in a brilliant flash of white light.

#

Katya and Fallon awoke on a stretch of secluded white sand beach. The sun was high in the cloudless sky, and Katya squinted against its brightness, reveling in its light if not its warmth.

Fallon, for his part, was staring at his bride in astonished confusion. "Kat?"

"Yes, my Phoenix?" she asked, stretching languidly and sighing as she relaxed contentedly.

"You...you're not hurt anymore. Where _are_ we?"

It was only the concern in Fallon's voice that snapped Katya out of her pleasantly lazy stupor. She contemplated the evidence her senses provided her. "It's bright, but I feel no warmth. I hear the waves in front of me, but I do not feel any spray from the water..."

"I don't smell the sea, either," Fallon agreed. At Katya's quizzical glance, Fallon explained, "I think this is Hawaii, Kat. There should be all sorts of smells, but..."

Katya jumped up, standing because the thoughts that were running through her mind kept her from sitting still any longer. "Darling, have you ever been to this beach before?"

Fallon's eyes widened when he recognized his surroundings. "Yeah," he replied, climbing to a standing position. "Becca and I came here during our honeymoon..."

The wheels were starting to turn in Katya's mind. "I have heard of this happening before," she mumbled, mostly thinking out loud. "But I never thought it would happen, let alone happen to _me..._"

"What?" Fallon commented, chuckling as he cut off his wife's train of thought. "Kat, what in God's name are you talking about?"

Katya sighed, forcing her thoughts to clear and her mind to focus. "Darling...right now we're in limbo."

"Limbo?" asked Fallon. "As in halfway between life and death?"

Katya nodded. "Mark, I believe we are here because in the mortal world, our bodies are becoming _odin."_

"Odin? As in the Norse head God?"

"No," Katya chuckled. _"Odin_ as in one. Not soulmates, because those pairings are predestined at birth, but as close as my kind can come to that. It is the reason that a vampyr and their sire are bonded for life...but I have never heard of it happening between a vampyr and a human before."

"Why not?"

Katya was pacing the beach, fighting to understand why they were where they were. "I suppose it's because of the amount of blood we have shared," she finally explained. "Most regular beings would have been drained to death several times over by now."

"Oh," Fallon nodded, his eyes sparkling. "So are you trying to tell me that I am no ordinary man?"

Katya picked up on her husband's suggestive tone. She swept his legs out from under him, pinning him to the sand. "My darling," she purred, "you are most definitely not an ordinary man."

Fallon smiled as Katya began to lay a trail of kisses up and down his chest. "How long does this process take, exactly?"

"It should not be terribly long," Katya replied. She climbed on top of her husband, gently straddling his rock-hard abs. "I believe we will be pulled back into our bodies once I'm healed."

Fallon nodded his understanding. He grabbed Katya by her waist and flipped her over, pinning her underneath him. "In that case," he declared, "we should probably find a way to take advantage of this time."

Katya smiled, enjoying her husband's affections. "I am sure we will find something to do..."

When Fallon started to nibble on his wife's ears, their world dissolved in white light once again.

#


	23. Chapter 23

**A/N: **I made the mistake of watching "Sleeper" when it aired in the US recently. Let's just say I'm seriously unimpressed by this whole repressed memory, semi sci-fi spy thriller arc. I'd much rather play with real sci-fi, fantasy and superpowers...;-)

#

The sound of the last gunshot echoed in Beckett's ears. She closed her eyes and followed the sound waves, listening carefully for any points where the ripples were absorbed by flesh instead of bouncing off of harder surfaces. Her fellow Guardians were easy enough to filter out, as were Katya and her husband, which left...Beckett tightened her grip on her sword slightly as her focus narrowed to her only remaining target. Her only _standing _target. She moved in a blur of speed, sprinting across the space and swinging the sword before any of her allies caught up to her.

Beckett only opened her eyes after hearing the telltale 'thunk' of bone on cement and the collapse of a heavy, unbalanced pile of dead weight falling shortly after. _Castle, _she ordered her partner through the group's mind-link, _now._

A fireball appeared in Castle's hand. He hurled the energy toward the body, only letting his eyes open when the ball split into two pieces and the head and body of the Jiangshi both burst into flames. "Nice shot," he told Beckett over the crackle of the flames.

"Same to you," Beckett agreed.

A slow, rhythmic clapping sound got the group's attention even over the crackle of the flames at their feet. "Impressive," Raminder complimented Castle, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "That was quite the display of teamwork."

Castle didn't hesitate. A sesond fireball appeared in his hand. He flung it at the vampyr mage, hoping to catch his enemy off-guard.

No such luck; Raminder snuffed out the fireball before it came anywhere near him. "Such a primitive gesture," he taunted Castle. "I would have assumed that a 'Guardian' would have been above doing something so...banal..." The vampyr waved his arm in front of his face, then frowned when nothing happened.

Castle laughed loudly, deliberately trying to push Raminder's buttons. "Really?!" he exclaimed, "you went back to _that _spell? I thought _you _were more creative that that..." A left hook to Castle's jaw silenced his teasing. He shook his head, trying to pinpoint the source of the blow...only to get hit again. The beating quickly became relentless: punch after punch, kick after kick hit Castle with merciless speed. The Guardian had no time to breathe, much less think. But when he was finally able to come up with a word, he threw his entire being into it. "DESINE!" he screamed.

The beating instantly ceased, leaving the battered and bruised man glaring at the smirking vampyr. "Creative enough for you, 'Guardian'?" he sneered.

Castle roared, his back bending to send the deafening sound high into the space above their heads. The vibrations shook the building around them, sending chunks of concrete falling from the crumbling pillars. A crack opened in the ceiling over their heads, sending sunlight pouring into the space directly above Raminder's head.

Raminder screamed in agony and terror...before doubling over, howling with laughter. "That shield was the first spell I ever learned, you moron!" he exclaimed. "I haven't been afraid of the sun for centuries!" Raminder then flung his own energy ball at Castle before beckoning to the Guardian with a mocking finger. "You want to destroy me, 'Guardian'?" he called out to Castle, "you'll have to find me first!"

The disappearance of the vampyr sent Castle into an even deeper state of rage. "Please, tell me you have a lock on that son of a bitch," he pleaded to his friends.

"I got him," Ryan declared. "He's not getting away this time."

Castle nodded, accepting the mind-linked image of Raminder's destination as the target of his spell. A flash of movement caught his attention before he was able to cast the spell. "Katya," he warned the vampyr, "I know Raminder is your brother, but I can't take you if..."

Katya didn't let Castle finish the sentence. "He is no longer my brother," she declared, eyes glowing orange for the first time. "He is a dangerous ancient who must be destroyed."

Satisfied by Katya's words, the entire group disappeared.

#

The air felt like a thousand stinging pinpricks on Beckett's skin. She started shivering almost as soon as they had arrived. _Castle, _she projected into the link with her soulmate, _it's freezing! _The instant rush of warmth that surrounded her told her the proper shield had been cast. _Thanks, _she replied, not wanting to take any more from Castle's focus than she had to.

_Where are we? _asked Ryan.

_The Ukok plateau, _Katya explained, the words bringing the sting of tears to her eyes. _My human home._

Castle didn't acknowledge the conversation. His focus was elsewhere. He scanned the mountain range that surrounded the valley they had arrived in, working his way inward in tighter and tighter circles as he scanned for any trace of the energy that had attacked him earlier. "C'mon," he muttered under his breath, "C'mon you sniveling little worm, where are you..." His voice grew louder as frustration gave way to the fury sparking to life within him. "You wanted home field advantage, coward, so come out and FIGHT!"

The response came on a foul-smelling breeze. "This is not _my _home, though, is it?" Raminder whispered into Castle's ear.

All eyes fell to Katya as she stepped forward. She closed her eyes, immersing herself in the memories that she had spend so many centuries deliberately trying to forget. It was hard to get her bearings at first; although the plateau had not changed at all since she had left it, the landmarks of her father's caravan were long gone. She felt her husband take her hand. She slipped out of his grasp; while she understood the sentiment behind the gesture, any connection to her modern life would only serve as a distraction. The vampyr focused on her breathing...not so much out of a need for oxygen as a way to filter and process the scents wafting in on the crisp mountain breeze. In and out, in and out, in...

It was on her third intake of air that Katya found what she was looking for. "Mistress Lièrén," she called over to Beckett. "Fifteen degrees to our west. I have detected the smell of..."

"Wet wool," Beckett agreed, wrinkling her nose as she completed Katya's thought. "I didn't make the connection until you pointed it out to me, but now that you've mentioned it..."

"I think Raminder planted that smell for me," Katya explained. "Can you follow it?"

"If not it, then you," replied Beckett. "You know where he is?"

Katya nodded. "I do now."

The vampyr took off at top speed, following the old familiar pathways...until she looked behind her and discovered that no one else was following. When she returned to the Guardians it was clear why they had not moved: Castle was collapsed in a heap on the dry meadow grass. The reserve of adrenaline that had fueled their journey back had. apparently, run out, and the Guardian had finally succumbed to his injuries. "What has happened?" she asked Beckett.

Beckett shrugged. "He just collapsed."

"Raminder dealt him one hell of a beating back in the parking garage," added Ryan. "It must have caught up with him."

"Can we call for Mistress Yīzhì?" asked Katya.

Ryan shook his head. "Even if I can reach her, it's not like Castle can get her here..."

"What about Henry?" Esposito broke in, suddenly inspired. "He might be able to get here on his own."

Ryan frowned. "It's a risk," he countered. "I don't know if I can even connect with him from this far away."

"We cannot go forward without the Sìfāng," Katya argued. "Raminder is too powerful."

Ryan nodded, sighing as he accepted their situation. He opened his mind, drawing on every ounce of energy he could take in as he reached out for the barely familiar connection. _Henry?_

#

Back at the warehouse lab, Henry fell off the lab stool he was sitting on. _Master Mùshī? _he thought, praying that those thoughts would make it through the other way. _Is that you?_

_Castle's badly injured, _Ryan replied, not wanting to waste his energy on excess chatter. _If I send you an image of where we are, can you use that to get to us?_

Henry frowned, his worry strong enough to filter through the mind-link. _I have no idea, _he replied, _I suppose it would depend on the image..._He gasped as the 'image' that Ryan sent forced his eyes closed. The sensory experience he was receiving was so crisp, clear and immersive that Henry was having a hard time not believing that he as already there. So following that connection back to its source...

#

When Henry opened his eyes, he had trouble believing that they were, in fact, open...until he saw most of the Guardians clustered around an unconscious form on the ground. Ryan was the only one not focused on what Henry could only assume was his patient...and the Guardian was smiling like a proud father. "Nicely done," he complimented Henry.

"You made it easy," Henry agreed. He broke through the circle of Guardians and knelt down next to Castle, whose face and neck were covered with a rapidly growing set of bruises. "What happened?" he asked the group.

"Raminder got the drop on him," Esposito explained.

Henry examined the bruising on Castle's skin, disturbed to feel the softness of the tissue underneath his fingertips. "It's amazing he got you this far," he said. "If I had to guess, I'd say he's got massive internal hemorrhaging."

Beckett knelt down next to Henry. "We don't have time to wait for him to die and come back," she explained. "Can you heal him like you did your partner?"

Henry swallowed hard, stricken by a sudden attack of nerves. "I'll see what I can do," he replied.

Beckett squeezed Henry's shoulder sympathetically. "Don't try," she declared. "We didn't drag you halfway around the world for you to just 'try'."

She stood up, allowing Ryan and Esposito to kneel down beside the nervous healer. "You can do this, man," Esposito encouraged him. "It's no different than what you did for Jo."

"I don't _know _what I did for Jo!" Henry exclaimed.

"Lucky for you, _I _do," Esposito countered. "Close your eyes." Henry reluctantly obeyed. "Put your hands on Castle's arm."

Henry and Ryan both gasped as the doctor's mind started reeling from the images flying through it. Ryan drew in energy and pushed it through his connection to Henry, giving the older man the extra concentration he needed to slow down the images and start to make sense of them. "Is this...?"

Ryan and Esposito both nodded even though Henry couldn't see them. "Do you see how the blood vessels are damaged?" Henry nodded, so Esposito continued, "change the image. Re-draw it in your mind until everything is back to normal."

Henry's eyes darted back and forth, his eyes and then his body twitching with increasing frequency as he moved through Castle's injuries.

Castle regained consciousness just as Henry passed out. His eyes widened as he took in the painful-looking extent of the older man's injuries. "Henry?!" he exclaimed. "My God, what happened?!"

"Raminder's doing," Ryan explained, "more or less. It's a long story. Can you get him back to the warehouse?"

Castle nodded, and Henry disappeared. The Guardian stood up and turned to Katya with renewed fire. "You know where he is?"

Katya nodded. "I do."

"Then let's finish this," declared Castle.

The group agreed and took off, following Katya's lead.


	24. Chapter 24

****A/N: ****_Right now, I'm beginning to wish I had done more work on the predecessor novel and was shopping it around...anyway, lately I've been thinking about the coverage of the tragic earthquake in Nepal. Most of the die-hard Guardian fans around here will probably remember (from Generations) that the Guardian legacy came from a line of Buddhist monks in Tibet...modern-day Nepal. And with no 'real' Guardians there to restore their world to its balance, the task of helping the quake survivors falls to the real-life "Network": us. _

_We all know the hissy-fit this website throws when you try to put links in a story post, so all I can do to encourage you to give is to google and donate to UNICEF, the International Red Cross or the Nepal Red Cross Society (who seems to be one of the central "boots on the ground" organization for the relief effort). It can take years to recover from a massive earthquake if you have the resources of a first-world nation. These people don't. Please give whatever you can. Thank you. _

_Thus endeth the PSA. On with the show..._

**#**

Katya stopped the group in a narrow mountain pass, her focus still somewhere far ahead of where they were standing. "This pass opens up into a small valley that is surrounded on all sides by the mountain. If Raminder wants to make this personal between he and I," she told the group, "then that is where he will be."

Beckett extended her senses as far as she dared. "I can't tell if he's there or not," she frowned. "I can't sense anything in that valley..."

"I can," Castle declared. "He's there. He's trying to use magic to block any trace of his presence."

"But that would make his presence obvious to you," added Beckett. Castle nodded in agreement.

Fallon turned to his wife and gave her hand a supportive squeeze. "You know Raminder best. What's the plan?"

Katya's expression grew somber and determined. "I will go into that valley and face him. Alone."

Castle made a sound that mimicked a game show buzzer. "Sorry. Try again."

Fallon was in full agreement with Castle. "Honey," he argued, "even if it were just the two of us here I wouldn't let you go down there alone..."

Katya shook her head. "Dearest," she countered, "_I _must go down into that valley alone."

Esposito immediately understood what Fallon was failing to catch on to. "I'll take them," he told Katya. "Go."

Katya nodded, clearly relieved. "Thank you, Master Xiānzhī," she said before taking off down the path.

All eyes turned on Esposito as soon as Katya turned out of eyesight. "What the hell?!" Ryan exclaimed.

Esposito shushed him quickly before tapping his temple. _Katya was dropping a hint for me to dig into her memories of this place, _he explained. _This is the only path out of the valley but it isn't the only way in. At least, not for us. _A vivid image of grey, smooth, steep cliffs came through the mind-link. _This cliff is on the other side of the valley, about a half-mile from here. There's a small entrance at the top of the cliff about a hundred yards up from the valley floor. _

_We can clear that, _Ryan agreed, catching on almost instantly. _So she..._Esposito nodded.

Castle caught on as well. _Jamyang told me that Raminder's obsessive focus is his greatest weakness. So if Katya can keep his attention focused on her..._

_We might be able to get the drop on him this time, _added Beckett.

Esposito nodded. Katya's memory of how to get to the top of the cliff flew through the mind link. _Everyone got where we're going? _Five heads nodded in agreement. _Let's go._

#

The hairs on Katya's skin stood up as soon as she stopped. She shuddered as the ancient, tragic memories of her human past came rushing back to her. Raminder smiled with smug satisfaction at her discomfort. "Good to be home, 'child'?" he teased.

Katya fought to get her raging emotions under control. "Why did you bring me here, brother?"

"I thought it fitting," Raminder replied with a casual shrug. A long, thin katana appeared in his hand as he lifted it from its resting position. "This is where your life truly began, after all. It seemed only right that this be where your life would end."

Katya swallowed hard. Her nerves threatened to overwhelm her...until she felt the presence of a katana and its holster magically appear on her back. _Thank you, master Sìfāng, _she thought as loudly as she could, unsure as to whether the man in question was listening.

One being, though, _was_ listening. Raminder's eyes flew wide as he jumped to a state of high alertness. He wheeled around on his heels, staring at the empty air and high, rocky cliffs surrounding him. It was only a single second, though, before Raminder's mask of arrogance returned. "Impressive," he sneered. _"_Your precious Jamyang would have succumbed to his injuries long ago." His voice magnified to a booming call as he drew in the energy of the world around him. "May no veils around me be; reveal the secrets of mine enemy!"

Four swordsman shimmered into visibility around Raminder. He blocked Fallon's opening shot before the soldier's thought had a chance to turn into damage. The fight was a brutal challenge for all involved: while Fallon, Esposito, Ryan and Beckett were each holding their own, Raminder's vampyr speed and centuries of fighting experience meant that he had no trouble defending himself even against four powerful attackers. He ran the group over every inch of the valley floor, desperately trying to find a place where he could use the terrain to his advantage. Finally, though, numbers began to win out, and Raminder disappeared...

Only to come crashing down to the ground from the sky above their heads. Raminder picked his head up to find Castle smirking over his prone form. "Shields were some of the first spells _I _learned, too," he teased.

A surprise bolt of lightning sent Castle flying backwards, and the fight resumed. Castle rolled over to his knees, coughing up blood before staggering to his feet. He watched as his friends pushed the vampyr to his limits, waiting for his chance...waiting for the one moment where maybe, with one last blast...

A white-hot ball of energy hit the group with such force that Fallon and the four Guardians collapsed instantly. Raminder howled with victorious laughter. "Well thank you very much, Master Sìfāng!" he roared, punctuating every few words with pauses to regain his waning energy. "Now I can take my sweet time as I end each of your lives...once and for..."

Raminder's last word was cut off as his head was separated from his neck. Katya watched as her brother's body collapsed, the head landing on top of Raminder's arm before falling off and rolling to a stop several feet away. Katya watched the head, speaking only after it stopped. "No, my brother," she declared quietly. "The only life that will end on this day...is yours."

#

**A/N #2**: _Normally I don't add this much commentary, but this chapter took a while to finish and a lot has happened. So, I had to add this. It has been announced that "Forever" has officially been cancelled after one season. Terrible news for us fans, but I will say it's not a major surprise - while I had hoped against all hope that the show would get a second chance, sometimes fate isn't on our side. And that hope had been the reason this crossover now exists. I wanted the chance to continue to enjoy these characters, and now that they're a part of our crazy little corner of the Internet, I would like to promise "Forever" fans that Henry, Jo, Abe and company are now a part of the Network and, as such, will be around...forever. ;-)_


	25. Chapter 25

**A/N: **_Time to wrap this one up! It should only take the next 2 chapters to finish this one and then it's back to Age of Miracles. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't abandon stories unless I'm abandoning writing altogether. It might take me forever to finish, but if I've published a start I promise y'all will see an end...eventually ;-)._

#

Henry watched Lanie pace the length of the lab, confused as to why the immortal would be so worried. "Lanie," he said, hoping his voice might be able to pull her attention off of her troubles, "I'm sure that they're perfectly fine..."

"They're not fine!" Lanie counted angrily, her emotions flaring at the offhand comment. Quickly realizing how her words sounded, Lanie took a few deep breaths to try and regain her self-control. "I'm sorry, Henry, but you don't understand. Javi and I are soulmates. Normally I can feel his presence even if we're halfway across the world from each other..."

Henry swallowed the lump that was rapidly forming in his throat as he put two and two together. "And now you're worried because..."

"I can't feel him," Lanie admitted quietly as she stopped her pacing. "For the first time since we realized we were soulmates I can't feel him."

Henry sighed, his mind wandering back to the feelings of panic and anxiety he felt when he first realized that Abigail had gone missing...and was probably already dead, if he was being honest with himself. He slowly moved closer to Lanie in the hopes of offering the healer some semblance of sympathy and comfort. "I'm sure they're fine," he told her, even though he wasn't really feeling the sentiment himself. "I'm sure they're fine..."

Seven beings suddenly appeared in the lab. Only one of them was conscious, and she moved in a blur of strength and speed to get the other six beings on nearby gurneys. "Master Mùshī was just barely able to give Master Sìfāng enough energy to bring us home," Katya told Lanie.

"What happened to them?" asked Henry.

"Master Sìfāng used the last of his energy to attack Raminder," Katya replied.

Lanie's eyes never opened even as she flinched at the name of the vampyr Mage. "Is he..."

Katya's face fell into a grim mask of frustrated resignation. "He will not be bothering us again. Ever."

Henry recognized the pain behind Katya's words. "I'm sorry," he told her, knowing the words would be of little comfort.

Katya's expression softened just slightly. She turned to Lanie. "How are they?"

"They'll live," Lanie replied, "but whatever Castle did fried their cells pretty badly. It's going to take me some time to get them fixed up."

"How long?" asked Katya, her eyes never leaving her husband's lifeless form.

Lanie finally opened her eyes. She stood up and sighed, clearly fatigued and frustrated by her lack of success to that point. "To be honest," she admitted, "it could take days for me to take care of all of them. Maybe longer. The damage is pretty extensive."

"Not to be indelicate," Henry asked, "but if their injuries are that severe, then why aren't they dead?"

"A human wizard can't kill," replied Katya. "Ever. Usually that is a great blessing..."

"But not this time," Henry agreed. His gaze examined each Guardian in turn before resting on Lanie's torn expression and Katya's echoing look of utter despair. His decision made, Henry closed his eyes, centered his focus, and grabbed Ryan's hand.

Jo and Hanson stood at entrance to the lab, their eyes widening as they watched Henry twitching and writhing in obvious pain. "What's wrong with Henry?" she asked, clearly worried. "What's happening to him?"

Katya's attention briefly turned to the two figures standing in the doorway. "He's taking on the Master Mùshī's injuries," she explained, stunned by the gesture.

Lanie caught on immediately. "I think he's healing Ryan so Ryan can help me heal the others," she told the group.

"Wait, you didn't say Henry was healing that guy," Hanson countered. "You said he was 'taking on his injuries'."

"That is correct," Katya replied.

"So what'll happen to him?"

Jo's eyes never left Henry, watching and wincing as his skin darkened. "He'll suffer. Then he'll die," she explained, her breath catching on the words. "And then he'll wake up. And do it again and again."

Hanson recognized the growing look of sympathetic anguish on his partner's face and the look on Katya's face that showed she did not agree with Jo's hopeful conclusion about Henry's fate. The cop wrapped his arm around Jo and gently turned the woman away from the lab. "C'mon," he urged her. "Why don't you and I go get some coffee and come back when they're done..."

#

Henry broke the surface of the water, gasping for air with deep, instinctively panicked gulps. It was only after his racing heart returned to normal that Henry was able to investigate his surroundings...

And instantly realized he had no idea where he was. He had gone through a resurrection, of that much he was...certain? Even that detail felt vague and up for debate to his clouded mind. _Come on, Henry, _he thought to himself, _focus..._ Henry decided to start by categorizing whatever sensory input he could recognize. _Let's see, the air is warm and feels like the sea, but..._he sipped at the water he was treading in. _The water tastes fresh; clean and...clear. So this is not the ocean. _He listened for the sound of birds or passing ships..._nothing but the tide. But that tide also means that land is nearby..._

Henry turned around, grateful to feel the water move around him the way he expected water to move. He spotted land in the distance...and when he saw who was waiting for him on the shore, all thoughts of assessing his reality left him. Henry swam toward the shore with all his might, running toward the shore as soon as his feet were able to touch the soft sand below the water. He embraced the woman as soon as he got within arms' reach, spinning her around in the air before enveloping her in a passionate kiss. "You're here!" he exclaimed with breathless amazement. "But how?! Why?!"

Abigail smiled as she ran her hands through her beloved's short, wet hair, pushing the water away from his eyes in the process. "I am here for you, my darling. To help you through your transition."

#

Castle woke up with a groan, his eyes taking longer than normal to adjust to the brightness of the lights that surrounded him. "I didn't choose to die," he commented. "At least, I don't think I did..."

Katya's eyes flew open and she jumped up from the position she had been reclining in. "Master Sìfāng!" she exclaimed excitedly. "You are awake!"

Castle winced at the volume of Katya's enthusiastic greeting. "How long was I out?" he asked, confused, as he smacked his dry tongue against the sticky roof of his dehydrated mouth. "Ugh, and what were we drinking..."

Katya's face fell. "How much do you remember?"

It all came back to Castle in a rush of memories. He forced his protesting muscles to push himself until he was sitting upright. "Kate," he asked urgently, "where is she? Where are they..."

Katya stopped the wizard before he was able to move any further. "The others are _fine," _she told him. "You were the last to awaken. Well, except for..."

"Except for _who?" _asked Castle. "How long was I out for?"

Katya moved so that Castle could get a clear view of Henry's unconscious form. "You and the others were badly injured when you returned," she explained. "The spirits took care of my beloved, but you...and the others...but for who had caused the damage..."

The guilt on Castle's face was obvious. "You mean me."

Katya nodded. "You were trapped in a realm between life and death where the Yìzhī could not reach you."

#

Henry shook his head, fighting to blink back his confusion. "Transition?" His face paled as the word and its implications started to sink in. "Am I...did I, finally..."

Abigail shook her head. "No. Now is not your time, my darling. It will not be your time for a long time yet to come. If it ever comes at all."

His beloved's words did nothing to ease Henry's confusion. "Then what is this transition you are speaking of?"

Abigail's smile widened. "You have had the power of life coursing through your veins for centuries. Did you really think that gift was meant for you and you alone?"

#

"Henry took on all of your injuries." Katya explained.

Castle's eyes flew wide. "_All_ of them?"

"From all four of you," Katya replied with a nod. She turned to watch Henry's chest rise and fall with shallow breaths. "Master Mùshī was the first to awaken, and he helped the Yìzhī to finish your restoration. But Henry..."

"What is it?" asked Castle.

"I beleve that the burden that Henry took from all of you wasn't physical. It was magical."

#

Henry stretched out as he lay on the sand next to the great love of his life. He ran his hand gently down the length of her hair, marveling at how the light blended the strands into the light blond hair of her vibrant youth and the gentle redness of the color she so loved in her later years. "Not that I don't mind the company," he purred, caressing Abigail's arm with feather-touches, "but how exactly is this transition supposed to..."

The immortal sat up with a start, his face instantly contorting in excruciating pain. He screamed and screamed, howling from an agony that was like nothing he had ever known...like every cell in his body was burning from the inside out.

Abigail scooted over to Henry until she was able to wrap her arms around him. He heard her soft whispers even over his own screams. Her arms felt cool, bringing comfort to every place where their bodies were able to make contact. "Shhhh," she cooed, leaning in until her breath was able to cool Henry's ear, "come here, my darling. I know it hurts. Let me help." Henry rolled around in Abigail's embrace, curling up into a ball and shaking with muscle spasms. She stretched her body around Henry's as best she could, creating a cocoon space around the suffering man. "It won't be long now, Henry. I promise, it won't be long now."

Arcs of blue energy wrapped around the cocoon, and Henry's world dissolved in a blinding flash of light.

#

Henry sat up in bed with a start, gasping as his lungs sucked in giant gulps of cool air in a panic.

The sound woke the immortal's bedside companion immediately. "Henry!" Jo exclaimed in a surprised whisper. "You're awake!"

Henry forced himself to pay attention to Jo while he forced his heart rate to return to something approximating normal. The stress on her body was obvious, and spoke of a persistent state of exhaustion. "How long have I been here?"

"A week, I think," Jo replied before yawning deeply.

"You _think_?" Henry responded wryly.

"Six days, twelve hours and third-two minutes," Jo countered with a teasing smirk. "But who's counting?"

Henry matched Jo's smile as he caressed her cheek. The connection between them instantly sparked to life. Henry gasped as a rush of images flew through his mind and were washed over with a tidal wave of blue energy.

When Henry's mind finally settled back into the physical world around him, Jo was looking at him in awe-struck wonder. "Henry?" she asked, clearly amazed. "What just happened?"

"I...I don't know," Henry stammered out, clearly bewildered.

"I'll go get Lanie," Jo exclaimed, practically running out of the room.

The detective returned a few minutes later, dragging the bleary-eyed healer behind her. "Well, look who's _finally _up," she greeted Henry between yawns.

"My apologies," said Henry, ever the patient patient. "If I had realized the hour..."

Lanie blew off the comments. "Let's just see how you're doing," she declared. She put her hand over Henry's to initiate a healing trance...

Henry's stomach knotted at the frown that appeared on the healer's face. "Doctor Esposito?"

Lanie ignored Henry and headed directly for her desk, dialing the only number she bothered to put into her phone's speed dial. "It's me," she said. "He's awake. I need your help. How soon can you get here?"

Ryan and Castle appeared in the lab two minutes later. Ryan took the lead as soon as he reached Lanie's side. "What's going on?"

"I tried to scan Henry," Lanie explained, "and I don't know how, but I almost got sucked into the vortex. I barely made it out in time to call you."

Henry's eyes widened, not liking at all what he was hearing. "What vortex?"

"If I have too much trouble understanding what I'm seeing in a trance," Lanie explained to Henry, "I can get lost in it. Only the Mùshī can pull me out of it, but it hasn't happened in _years..."_

Henry swallowed the nervous lump that was growing in his throat. "Is this something I will need to worry about?"

"Only one way to find out," Ryan replied. He offered a hand to both Henry and Lanie, who completed the circle.

Lanie re-entered the healing trance, allowing Ryan's presence to remove any hesitation about surrendering to the familiar process. Her face paled. Ryan's hands started to glow blue, and the trio shook with their efforts.

Jo wasn't sure who to tend to when the trio's hands finally separated. Ryan and Lanie seemed as shocked as she had. "Are you guys okay?!" she asked. Ryan and Lanie both nodded. "What happened?"

"I think I might know," Ryan volunteered. All eyes were instantly on him, but his attention was focused solely on Henry. "I think you struck oil."

No one understood the reference, least of all Henry. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

"Do you remember how I explained that our abilities are fueled by chi?"

Henry nodded. "It was why I was a target for the Jiangshi. It's why I don't die."

"You took on a _ton _of that energy when you tried to heal us," Ryan explained. "When you combine that with the energy that flows through you already...I think the dam burst."

Henry was slowly starting to catch up. "So when Jo and Doctor Esposito tried touch me..."

"They caught a hit of pure chi," Ryan agreed.

"Is that why I feel so good?" asked Jo.

The question surprised Lanie. "Good?"

"Detective Martinez has barely left your side since you collapsed," Ryan explained to Henry.

Henry nodded again. "I noticed," he agreed.

"She was the first person you touched when you came out of the coma?" asked Ryan.

"Yes," Henry replied.

Ryan then turned to Lanie. "You'll probably want to check to be sure, but I think Henry gave the detective here a double strength GCR without knowing it."

Lanie's eyes widened as Jo frowned in confusion. "What's a GCR?"

"Generalized cell renewal," Lanie explained quickly. "May I?" The healer jumped into the trance as soon as she made contact with Jo, and shook her head in amazement when she came out of it. "Well, I'll be damned," Lanie exclaimed. "You were right, Kev." She then turned her attention back to Jo. "You ever hear the term biological age?"

Jo nodded. "It's supposed to be how old you are based on how well you take care of yourself or something like that?"

"Well, your friend here just made you about ten years younger," Lanie declared. "_That's _why you feel so good."

Jo wanted to squeeze Henry's hand in affection and gratitude, but Henry deliberately shifted away from Jo's touch. "You're sure about this?"

"I am," replied Ryan. "One of my abilities is the ability to pull chi and give the others a boost when they need it. Crusher once called me the Guardians' backup battery. Right now? You're a power plant."

Henry's eyes went wide. "Am I...am I dangerous?" he asked, trying to ignore his growing sense of dread.

Ryan shook his head. "Whether you know it or not, you've been manipulating this energy for two hundred years," he reassured the older man. "It may take a bit for you to get this much power under control, but I can promise you this: you _will _learn how to control it."


	26. Chapter 26

_One week later..._

It almost felt...normal.

Henry sighed as he sank into his leather office chair and looked out over the morgue. Lucas was wrapping up the paperwork on a simple drug overdose case that had come in during Henry's absence. Nothing that the younger man hadn't done for him a hundred times before.

Yes, it almost felt normal.

Until a loud _THUMP _echoed just outside his office window.

Henry pushed open his curtains, then opened the window to see what could have made such an unusual noise. The answer, once he saw it, was sadly obvious: the carcass of a grey pigeon lay on its side on the ledge, warm but motionless. Henry sighed, his heart filling with compassion for the fate of the less than intelligent animal. He pulled on a pair of evidence gloves and gently picked up the lifeless bird. "C'mon," he told the bird, "you may have wanted that to be your final resting place, but I cannot let you stay there." Henry turned around, intending to take the bird out to a place where he could give the beast a proper burial, when a blue light gently flashed around his hands...

...and the pigeon returned to the land of the living. The bird started to fuss and fidget, pushing its wings against Henry's grasp on a desperate, panicked attempt to break free. "All right, all right!" Henry exclaimed with a chuckle, turning back around to face the window once agin, "out you go, then!" He couldn't help but smile as he watched the bird break free of his grasp and fly off to his second chance at life.

Yes, his day _almost _felt normal.

But, every once in a while, the truth settled in. Life wasn't going to feel normal, again, for a long, long time.

_Maybe, _he thought, _maybe that's a good thing._

"You better be careful where you perform that little trick, Doctor Morgan."

Panic shot through Henry's system. _Then again, _he thought, _maybe not. _He sighed, quickly fighting to compose himself even as his nerves were starting to get the better of him. "Lieutenant!" he exclaimed with an overage rated grin and nervous chuckle. "What brings you down to our cold little corner of the room?"

"I _had_ wanted to welcome you back to the precinct," Reece replied with a smirk. "After your...extended vacation."

The knowing look on Reece's face suggested to Henry that Reece knew exactly where he had spent his 'extended vacation'. He sighed again, hoping against hope that the woman in front of him was going to be willing to believe the bald-faced lie he was about to tell her. "Lieutenant," Henry began, "about the bird...I can explain..."

Reece stopped Henry with a raised hand. "Save the explanation, doctor. I know what I saw. And now I think I need to show _you _something." The lieutenant entered the office and closed the door behind her, then pulled out her cell phone and called up a photograph. "This is a picture of me and my best friend from my academy days." When Henry opened his mouth to protest, Reece gave him an instruction before he could get the words out. "Tap on the screen and read the photo tags."

Henry did as instructed. "Joanna Reece and...Victoria Gates? Why do I know that name?"

"Vicki and I graduated from the academy together. She's now running her own precinct. The 12th."

Where the name sounded only vaguely familiar, Henry immediately recognized the number...and made the connection between the two. "Captain Victoria Gates. The Guardians' old commanding officer."

Reece nodded. "I've been a part of the Network almost as long as she has. And I was told that you were a...guest at the warehouse during your 'extended vacation'?"

Henry was suddenly grateful for the Network's code of secrecy. "I...may have been in the Bronx sometime last week..."

Reece decided to spare Henry the dance. "I was told you should be given the same courtesies as if one of Guardians theselves were under my command." Her teasing smirk shifted slightly into a smile of genuine respect. "So how may I serve you, honored one?"

Henry blushed at the idea of the Guardians' honorific now being directed toward _him. _"How much do you know, lieutenant?" he asked.

"Besides that little thing with the bird? Only what you want to tell me," Reece replied. "Sir."

Henry found it impossible not to chuckle at Lieutenant Reece calling _him _'sir'. "You showed me a photograph from your past earlier," he told her, reaching into an inside pocket in his blazer, "I'd like to show you a picture from my past in return."

Reece accepted the weathered photograph and studied it carefully. While the young woman and infant were unfamiliar faces, the man's face was one that Reece instantly recognized. Particularly since the man in the photograph was standing before her. "How long ago was this photograph taken, Henry?"

"1945," he replied.

"And how old were _you _when this photograph was taken?"

"I was one hundred and sixty five years old," Henry admitted.

Reece's eyes reflexively widened in shock at the number Henry had given her. She quickly did the remaining math in her head. "You're 235 years old?"

Henry nodded. "I am."

"So you're immortal?" Henry nodded again. Reece slowly started putting together the pieces of the mystery that was Henry Morgan...starting with the oddest piece. "Does this have anything to do with your penchant for skinny dipping in the East River?"

Henry nodded again, blushing. "Before I had more control over my...gifts," he explained, tripping over the words with some hesitation, "I would experience more of a rebirth than a resurrection..."

"When you die?" asked Reece.

"Every time," Henry agreed. "I would disappear and emerge in the nearest major body of water. In New York, that's..."

"The East River." A stray memory popped up in Reece's mind. "The Grand Central gassing case...Detective Martinez initially said that she saw you fall off the roof with the suspect, but then later recanted."

Henry's gaze suddenly shifted from Reece to his desk. "What she saw initially was correct. I also died on that derailed subway train during that same case."

Reece's eyes went wide again. "How many times have you died in the service of protecting Detective Martinez, Doctor?"

"To be honest, lieutenant," Henry admitted, "I've lost count."

"And the bird?"

Henry allowed himself a small smile. "As I've gained more control over my gifts I've been able to care for more than just myself." When Reece's eyes widened further, Henry realized where her mind went and corrected her assumption. "The bird was only injured, not dead. In that way my gift is similar to the Lièrén's."

Reece shared in Henry's smile as the last of the pieces, for her, fell into place. "That explains so much..."

It became Henry's turn to be confused. "Ma'am?"

"The Harbor Unit is a Network precinct," Reece explained. "Let's just say they've been instructed to...look the other way...if they happen to run into you during a patrol. I suppose I can make some calls about the shore patrols as well? If that's still necessary?"

Henry looked relieved. "It would take a great load off my mind, lieutenant. Thank you."

"You're welcome," said Reece. "Detective Martinez...does she know?"

Henry nodded. "As do Lucas and Detective Hanson. It...came up over the course of this case."

It was now Reece's turn to look relieved. "Secrets are a terrible burden to keep, Doctor Morgan, as you know. It's nice to know that I won't be alone in keeping this one." She stood up, effectively bringing the conversation to a close. "Is there anything else you need from me...sir?"

"No, ma'am," Henry replied. He stood up, smiling warmly as he escorted Reece to his office door. "Is there anything you need from me?"

Reece shook her head. "Doctor...Henry, I believe in taking care of my people. And _you_ are one of my people. Thank you for being there for them...and for letting me be there for you."

"Thank you," said Henry.

Reece pressed a small envelope into Henry's had as she left without any further comment. Curious, he closed the door to his office, sat down and opened the envelope. He pulled out a small, gaudy-looking medallion on a simple gold chain, frowning at the unattractive piece of jewelry. Henry then found the piece of paper that came with the necklace and began to read the note written on it:

_Dearest Henry,_

_It was such a great joy and pleasure to finally meet you and work with you. I can see why Michel guarded his friendship with you so jealously. _

_We do not often get to keep many friends for even the span of a normal human lifetime, let alone longer than that. I hope you know that you are no longer alone in this universe and never have to be again._

_Which brings me to the reason for this gift. Even when we have friends to share this journey with, it is not the same as having that true companion...that one person who loves and cares for us as much as we do for them. Michel told me that you had that kind of love once and lost it. I hope that you will find that kind of love again in your life. If you do...give them this coin. The one who wears a Baron Samedi coin cannot be touched by death unless they choose to release their life to his control. So if your beloved never wants to leave your side...they no longer have to._

_Be well, Henry. See you soon._

_Katya_

Henry let the coin dangle from its chain, letting the light reflect off the metal surface as he felt the weight of the coin and the immense power it carried. His heart started to ache with regret. _If I had this coin forty years ago, _he thought, _I would never have had to lose Abigail._ His mind then returned to the words he had just read in Katya's note. _Is it possible? Could I find another love like that?_

A knock on the door shook Henry out of his musings. "Hey Henry," Jo greeted him, "I just caught a new case. Ready to get back to the grind?"

Henry smiled at the question. "I'll be right there." He then stood up, took one last look at the medallion and put it in the top drawer of his desk. _I have no idea if this life is worthy of forever, _he thought, _but for now...I certainly couldn't ask for anything more._

_#_

_**A/N:**__ That's all, folks! Hope you enjoyed it! Just remember, though! that I can't *know* if you enjoyed it unless you leave me comments!_


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